The Aftermath
by Whovian1110
Summary: This is what happens to Harry Potter and his friends after the last chapter of The Deathly Hallows but before the epilogue. It will be updated daily
1. Chapter 1

**A/N I don't own this story or Harry Potter; Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and the story is owned by my uncle. I am merely posting his story.**

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CHAPTER ONE

THE DAY AFTER

Harry Potter stirred in his bed. He felt incredibly stiff and quite groggy, as one often feels when emerging from a long night's sleep. As he opened his eyes, many familiar sights and sounds filled his senses. The first sound to reach Harry's ears was the irregular noise of Ron's deep breathing. Though it was dark, Harry could still recognize various shapes all sleeping soundly in Neville, Dean and Seamus' four poster beds, and hear the chorus of snores coming from the occupants.

Harry sat up and shook his head, hoping the dull thudding he felt there would soon be gone. He thought perhaps it had all been a nightmare. Certainly, at first glance everything seemed like a normal Hogwarts' morning. Could the last several months have occurred only in his head? Harry knew that wasn't the case, though it was a hopeful thought. He considered waking Ron, but decided to let him sleep. This was time Harry neede to experience alone. Through his many years at Hogwarts, whenever Harry had lain awake at night he had gotten up and gone to the Gryffindor common room. There he would sit on the couch in front of the fire, either alone with his thoughts, or, on occasion, having a chance to talk with his godfather, Sirius Black, through the fireplace. Sirius, sighed Harry, was another person with whom he was close who had sacrificed his life in the recent struggle.

Harry quietly slipped out of the dormitory and down into the Gryffindor common room. It, too, was dark and still, as well as apparently empty. Though he knew that Hogwarts had recently been an eventful place, at the moment all seemed to be completely at peace. Harry was in no hurry to have that illusion shattered, so he decided to settle down on the couch. But as Harry went over towards the fire, he noticed a shape already there.

As Harry cautiously approached, the light from the fire revealed that the shape was the sleeping form of Ginny Weasley. Harry's heart leapt. This was as close to as he had been to her for almost a year, since Bill and Fleur's wedding last summer. In some ways it seemed like a lifetime ago, and yet as he looked at her sleeping peacefully on the couch it felt as though it was only yesterday.

As he gently sat down beside her, Ginny's eyes fluttered and she slowly awoke. A smile crossed her face as she leaned over and fell gently into Harry's arms. No matter what else had happened, all now seemed right in Harry's world. For now, that was all Harry needed. His eyes were still heavy, and soon he allowed them to fall shut.

Harry did not know how long he was asleep before he again awoke. Ginny was already awake, and she shifted to look at him. Harry gazed back into Ginny's eyes and they kissed softly. It felt as though he could gladly just look at her for hours and be happy. Finally, Ginny spoke, breaking the silence.

"You know, the three of you caused a mild panic yesterday."

Her statement had Harry immediately confused. He could think of many events that had occurred yesterday, the majority of which could be considered major catastrophes. He had no idea what Ginny was referring to that might qualify as only a mild panic.

"How is that?"

"About mid-afternoon, people noticed that you, Ron and Hermione were missing. Mum immediately feared the absolute worst. Search parties were sent out and it was all very nervous until Neville reported that he found you sleeping in the dorms. Once everyone calmed down, someone decided a little sleep sounded like a good idea, so the students were sent back to the dorms and the rest all bedded down in the Great Hall."

"So why aren't you in your room?"

Ginny gave Harry a long, soft smile before she spoke.

"I wanted to make sure I saw you as soon as you woke up. It has been almost exactly a year since you decided we had to break up for my safety. I reluctantly agreed and I waited patiently. For months and months I did not know where you were, what you were doing, or even if you were alive. I decided I had waited long enough. Besides, today is likely to be another busy day, and I wanted to spend some time with you before things became too hectic."

"Err … busy day?" stammered Harry.

"You've always been good at focusing on your task at hand, but you really are oblivious to much of the world around you," said Ginny with a smile. "There is a memorial service planned this evening for everyone who was killed in the battle," she continued. "It was really an odd feeling in the Great Hall yesterday. Everyone seemed to be elated that Voldemort had been defeated, and proud of their part in the battle. But those feelings were mixed with sorrow for those who had died, gratitude for all who came to help, and pure exhaustion once the adrenaline of the battle wore off."

Just then Hermione appeared from the girls' dormitory, followed by Parvati Patil and a group of younger Gryffindor girls. Ginny slowly sat up straight, no longer leaning against Harry, though she still held his hand. Harry felt as though he was waking up from a pleasant dream and being dumped right back into reality.

Hermione's eyes were red and misty. It was obvious she had been crying, and a quick look at all the other girls showed that they had been crying also. "It was so sad, seeing Lavender's empty bunk," explained Hermione. "The others tell me that she died from her injuries yesterday."

Lavender Brown had been one of Harry's classmates at Hogwarts. She had started the same year as Harry, been in most of his classes, and had even dated his best friend Ron. Her death meant that Harry now knew of at least three of the students he had taught in his 'Dumbledore's Army' group had given their lives in the battle. Harry had seen Colin Creevey's limp body being carried into the Great Hall before going into the Forbidden Forest to give himself up to Lord Voldemort. And they had all seen Fred Weasley's death early in the battle. How many others had Harry helped to train, only to lead them to their deaths yesterday?

"How many others?" asked Harry quietly.

"There were dozens, maybe around fifty," admitted Ginny. "I think Fred, Lavender, Colin Creevey and Justin Finch-Fletchley were the only students. Then there were Firenze, Lupin, Tonks and several others of the Order. Old Elphias Doge arrived just before the last part of the battle and got hit by a stray Avada Kedavra curse. Plus there were several losses on the other side, including a few who had been under the Imperius curse, and, of course, Crabbe, Fenrir, Bellatrix and Voldemort.

Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus then made their appearance as they emerged from the boys' dormitory. Though their eyes were not as red as the girls', they were also in a somber mood.

"What's everyone talking about?" said Ron as he slid beside Hermione. While Ron and Hermione had been close for awhile, the ordeals of the last year and the intensity of the last few days seemed to have transformed them from friends into something much more.

"Yesterday, of course. What else do you think would be on our minds?" sighed Hermione. Once again, silence filled the room.

"Well, I say we head down to the Great Hall," announced Ron. "I need to see how Mum and Dad are doing. Besides, I'm starving."

Everyone chuckled, as Ron always had a tendency to be driven by his stomach. With that first light hearted moment of the day, the Gryffindors paraded down to see what awaited them in the Great Hall. That room had always been the gathering spot at Hogwarts, and such was again the case today. The many sleeping bags of every conceivable size and shape that were piled up in the corner indicated that a large number of people had slept here overnight. The room was filled with people talking and eating breakfast while house elves busily brought out platters of food. Several of the ghosts of Hogwarts were floating around the room, and Nearly Headless Nick swooped straight through Harry as he entered, filling Harry as always with a feeling of cold chills. But Nick seemed so happy that Harry didn't mind so much. As Harry glanced around the room, he suddenly saw Mrs. Weasley fly by him, rushing to embrace Ron and Ginny. Mr. Weasley, unable to keep up, was following behind her.

"You three certainly gave Molly quite a fright last night. I'm afraid with Fred's death she is more than a little skittish about the rest of her family."

Hermione and Harry looked guiltily at each other before Harry spoke.

"I'm sorry. It was all my fault. We hadn't slept since before we broke into Gringotts two days ago. I had just used up every bit of my physical, mental and emotional reserves. I felt that I couldn't go any farther without collapsing."

This statement brought Mrs. Weasley's attention back to Harry.

"Broke into Gringotts? What are you talking about? What in heaven's name would you have been doing there? What other trouble have you three all been getting into since last summer?"

It was Hermione's turn to smile. "I think we are going to need an entire day to bring you up to speed on what the three of us have been doing. It is a very long story." Hermione's eyes then lit up and acquired a far away look.

"Yes, we are going to have to find a way to tell that story," she continued. Then she walked away and began having a conversation with Luna Lovegood, their friend from the Ravenclaw house who had been sitting all alone at a nearby table.

"I hate it when she does that," laughed Ron. "I half expected to see her head off to the library, just like in the old days whenever she had an idea. In some ways it's like we were never gone, isn't it Harry?"

Then Ron looked at his family and remembered it was missing one person. Memories of Fred falling in the struggle filled his mind. During the heat of the battle and his own fight for survival, Ron had been able to put aside his pain and grief. But now those feelings came crashing home. He looked at his family and friends and his voice cracked.

"What are we going to do about Fred?"

Mrs. Weasley's eyes filled with tears and Ginny moved closer as her mother drew her tightly into her arms. Ron's brothers Charlie, Percy and George all stood by silently, hanging their heads. Finally, it was Mr. Weasley who answered.

"I don't know if you've heard about the service planne for tonight? Well, it has been decided to create a memorial for all who fell here defending Hogwarts and fighting the Dark Lord. They will all be placed in a tomb near Dumbledore's as a reminder to all future students of the sacrifices that were made here. We'll get our chance to say our goodbyes to Fred then."

Harry was feeling a little out of place. Though he had always been close with the Weasleys, he felt as if he were intruding on a private moment. He decided it would be best to leave the Weasley family to themselves and join Hermione and Luna for breakfast. As soon as he sat down, the house-elf Kreacher appeared suddenly at his side, giving Harry quite a start.

"Master Harry, what can Kreacher bring to you for breakfast?"

"I wish you wouldn't surprise me like that, Kreacher." But Harry soon recovered and noticed how empty his stomach felt. "How about a big plate of the stuff Hermione and Luna are having? And maybe some treacle tarts?"

"Kreacher is happy to bring breakfast to Master Harry."

Hermione seemed to have a slightly disapproving look on her face. Kreacher left and reappeared shortly with one plate heaped with breakfast food and another filled with treacle tarts. Harry couldn't help but remain amazed at the difference that had come over Kreacher's attitude once they had started treating him with respect and kindness. After Kreacher departed, Hermione spoke up.

"So, Harry, what are you going to do about Kreacher now?"

"Err … what do you mean?"

"You sent Kreacher to Hogwarts and didn't free him so that he couldn't give away any of the secrets of the Order of the Phoenix to Voldemort and the Death Eaters. We don't have to worry about that anymore. There is no reason you can't set Kreacher free now."

"I don't know about that," answered Harry cautiously. "Remember how much Winky hated being freed. I have a feeling Kreacher will be just as bad."

"Oh, Harry!" pleaded Hermione. "You saw how Kreacher led the other house elves during the battle. He's a lot tougher than Winky. You don't want him to be forced to serve you."

At that point, Luna dreamily looked up at the two of them and chimed in.

"Daddy says that freed house-elves all move to Estonia where they worship the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Don't you think Kreacher deserves a reward for leading all the house-elves against Voldemort and the Death Eaters?"

"Well …"

"Look," said Luna as she pointed to the next table. "Kreacher is right over there."

"Kreacher!" called Hermione. "Harry wants to speak to you."

Kreacher came over, Regulus Black's locket swinging from his neck, looking as happy as Harry had ever seen him.

"Kreacher is here. What does Master Harry want?"

"Well, I wanted to thank you for the help of all the house-elves yesterday. Regulus would have been proud."

Kreacher's back straightened and he seemed several inches taller.

"Were any of the elves hurt?" asked Hermione.

"None of us were seriously hurt. There were a few bruises from being kicked or stepped on. But those bad wizards never hit any house-elves with their spells."

"So, I was wondering what you wish to do from now on, Kreacher."

"Kreacher wishes to serve Master Harry."

"What I mean is that I don't know what I am going to be doing next. I may not be back here at Hogwarts or at number twelve, Grimmauld Place. Wouldn't you like to be able to stay there sometimes, even if I am elsewhere?"

"What if Harry freed you Kreacher?" added Hermione. House-elves were freed from servitude to their masters if their masters gave them an article of clothing. "What if he gave you clothes?"

"Clothes! Clothes! What has Kreacher done to deserve clothes! Have I disappointed Master Harry?"

Harry had to reach over to keep Kreacher from banging his head on the table.

"What I meant to ask, Kreacher," said Harry as he threw a warning glance at Hermione, "is would you be interested in being allowed to stay with me, but also able to go back and visit Regulus' house at any time or work here at Hogwarts if you wished? I could free you, but you could then choose on your own to stay with me or not. I would promise to let you stay at Regulus' house or with me wherever I end up, but it would be your choice."

"So, Master Harry is not just trying to get rid of Kreacher?"

"Not at all, Kreacher," responded Harry. "I just want you to have the freedom to do what you choose."

"Kreacher … Kreacher will think about it, Master Harry."

"That's good enough for now, Kreacher."

Kreacher slowly walked away, and Harry noticed him talking with Winky as he returned to the kitchen. Harry had never really figured out the minds of house-elves, and he couldn't even guess the details of what they would be discussing at the moment.

Harry spent the next half hour eating his sausages and tarts while listening to Luna and Hermione argue about some mythical creature or another. He was happy enough to just enjoy the relative normalcy of it all, without getting involved himself. He soon noticed Neville Longbottom approach the table, still carrying the sword of Gryffindor with him.

Neville had been the leader of the student revolt at Hogwarts the last year and gained himself yet more fame for confronting Voldemort and killing his pet snake Nagini during the battle. Neville was now far from the low self-esteem student Harry had known throughout his years at Hogwarts. He had grown into a confident leader in his own right. Neville sat down across from Harry and provided the biggest shock Harry had received recently.

"So Harry, I was just wondering if you have figured out what you are going to say tonight."

"Err … say tonight?"

"Yeah, during the huge service this evening. I hear Hogsmeade is overflowing with people already. Kingsley Shacklebolt is coming as well as most of the rest of the Ministry. Plus all the families of those who died yesterday will be here. You can bet they are all going to want to know what you've been doing the last year and what led to the big battle. I think they will want to be reassured that their loved ones died for a good cause."

"He's right you know, Harry," added Hermione. "People will be expecting to hear from you tonight."

Harry groaned inside. He was a shy person by nature, and he had no desire either to speak in front of a crowd of people or describe what he had been doing the last several months.

"I can't tell everyone what we were doing. That was just supposed to be for you, Ron and me to know," protested Harry. He immediately remembered how Aberforth Dumbledore had said that his brother had been a natural at keeping secrets from others. Harry suddenly thought that he was starting to act the same way.

"That's over now Harry. There is no longer any reason to keep everything secret," replied Hermione. "Look, I'll help you prepare. You don't have to give all the details of what we have been doing, just the highlights."

"There will be other speakers, Harry," added Neville. "I know Kingsley Shacklebolt will update us on what the Ministry is doing, and I hear there will be some word about the future of Hogwarts. There will be plenty of other speakers talking about their friends and loved ones who died. For insteance, I know Parvati Patil is going to talk a little about Lavender."

"What about Firenze?" interrupted Hermione. Firenze was a centaur who had left the Forbidden Forest at to come to Hogwarts and teach Divination classes. Firenze had given up his place in the herd in order to help out Professor Dumbledore, and then given his life defending Hogwarts in the recent battle.

"What about him?" answered Neville. "He is getting honored and buried with all the others."

"I mean, I wonder if the other centaurs will be offended in any way. You know how they don't like to associate with wizards. Maybe we should see what the other centaurs want."

Harry reluctantly agreed with Hermione, and decided there was no reason to delay. Besides, the idea of getting away from the crowd in the Great Hall appealed to him. Perhaps his time spent with just Hermione and sometimes Ron had made Harry adverse to being near large groups of people. He stood up and began to look around at the crowd gathered in the hall. There was no way he was going to tempt fate by going out into the forest alone. The centaurs had warned him in no uncertain terms in the past that humans were not welcome.

"Has anyone seen Hagrid? I don't want to go out into the Forbidden Forest without him. The centaurs seem to be willing to tolerate him in the forest."

"The Ministry was rounding up the giants, so Hagrid took off with Grawp," Neville explained. "I would guess they went back up to the cave where they had been hiding out."

"I think we should go see if Hagrid is in his cabin," concluded Hermione. "We can check to see if he and Grawp are okay, and see if we can get his help talking to Bane, Ronan, Magorian and the other centaurs."

Harry and Hermione excused themselves from the table and went back over to the Weasley family. Hermione brought along a plate of left over treacle tarts and gave them to a grateful Ron, who had been so busy with his family that he had not yet found time to eat. Harry slipped unobtrusively next to Ginny and wrapped his arm around her waist while Ginny leaned her head lightly against him. Only George seemed to notice, and he gave Harry a quick wink before turning back to the conversation where Hermione was now speaking.

"Harry and I are heading out to see if we can find Hagrid. We thought someone should ask Bane and the other centaurs if they want to participate in the service tonight."

"That's an excellent idea," said Mr. Weasley. "We should have though of that."

"I just saw Hagrid back at his cabin about half an hour ago," added George. "He must have taken Grawp away so he wouldn't get rounded up by the Ministry with all the rest of the giants."

"I'm coming with you," said Ron. "I gotta see how Hagrid is doing."

"Me, too!" added Ginny, determined not to be left behind anymore.

The four of them left the castle and strolled along the familiar grounds towards Hagrid's cabin. It was turning into a beautiful, sunny day, and ahead they saw the familiar sight of smoke gently rising from Hagrid's dwelling. As Harry walked, he felt like he was at home. So many pleasant memories flashed into his mind, such as the visits to see Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures classes, the many Quidditch practices and the excitement of the Quidditch games. And best of all, the many days last spring spent on the grounds talking and studying with Ginny.

They reached the cabin and knocked on the old wooden door. After waiting a bit they knocked again, and finally a sleepy looking Hagrid appeared in the entrance.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Ginny! Good ter see yeh lot! Come on in."

They came into the cabin and Hagrid made a pot of tea.

"Yeh all are looking pretty good. Got through yesterday all righ', eh?"

There was an embarrassed quiet in the room, then finally Ron spoke.

"We're okay … but they killed Fred."

"They got Fred, eh? Dang shame. He and George were always two of my favorites. They're good lads, could always make me grin. Rest o' the family all right?"

"A little stunned. Physically the rest of the family is in good shape," said Ginny, "but Mum's not taking it well."

"She'll come around, just stick close to 'er. She's a tough lady. But Harry, tell me what happened in the forest. I saw him kill yeh with the Avada Kedavra curse. Even Mrs. Malfoy said yeh was dead. How'd yeh come back?"

All eyes turned to Harry, who seemed to consider the question for a while before speaking. He really wasn't in the mood to start explaining everything, but he knew he might as well start off with his friends.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I have a good guess," chuckled Harry as he thought of the times Dumbledore had shared his guesses with him in the past.

"Just before Snape died, he passed on several of his memories to me, which I was able to watch in Professor Dumbledore's pensieve. In one of those memories, Dumbledore told him that he thought when Voldemort killed my parents, his soul was unstable enough that part of it split off and attached itself to me. That was why I was able to see into Voldemort's mind at times. The combination of my mother's magical protection and the fact that Voldemort used my blood when restoring his body meant that his curse killed off that small part of his own soul without harming the rest of me."

Harry's explanation was greeted with silence by the others, until Hagrid spoke up.

"But when Narcissa Malfoy checked your body, she said yeh was dead."

"That was strange. She never checked me, just quietly asked me if Draco was alive. It was like she didn't care if I was dead or not. When I told her that Draco was alive in the castle, she told everyone I was dead. I guess she was more interested in having an excuse to get to check on Draco than she was in helping Voldemort."

"Ugh, so we had help from Mrs. Malfoy?" asked Ron. "I'm not sure I know how to deal with that."

The five of them swapped more stories from the last few days for awhile, making it almost feel like one of their visits to see Hagrid when they were more carefree Hogwarts students. At least until Hermione changed the subject.

"Hagrid, we need to talk to Bane and the other centaurs about Firenze and the memorial service. Can you help us find them?"

"I believe we can find 'em, but I don't know if they will be happy to see yeh. C'mon yeh lot, let's grab Fang and go looking for 'em."

Hagrid picked up his crossbow, then the five of them and Hagrid's dog Fang started off for the Forbidden Forest. As they penetrated deeper into the forest, the light was steadily driven from the bright spring day by the increasingly dense, leaf-filled trees. Harry experienced conflicting emotions the farther they went into the woods. While it was a place he had feared since his first year at Hogwarts, it seemed rather tame compared to the other terrors he had experienced in the last year. Ginny either felt Harry's fear or was experiencing her own, as Harry noticed she held his hand during their entire walk in the forest. Ron and Hermione also looked somewhat hesitant, but the most unwilling participant seemed to be Fang, whom Hagrid had always proclaimed to be a coward.

They followed a path for about half an hour until they came to a small clearing. Hagrid signaled them to halt, then bellowed in his loudest voice.

"Bane! Bane!"

Hagrid repeated his call every couple of minutes, until finally there was a rustling from the other side of the clearing. Finally, the centaur who Harry recognized as Ronan strolled into view.

"Good afternoon to you Hagrid … though I thought we warned you that while we tolerate your presence in this forest, these others are not welcome."

"This isn't your forest, Ronan, and yeh'll tolerate whoever …"

Harry immediately interrupted.

"Ronan, we just wish to talk to Bane and the rest of the centaurs. We'd be happy to do so either here or just outside the forest."

Ronan raised his head as if to listen to sounds far off in the distance.

"I believe we can have a short talk here, as long as you agree to immediately leave the forest when the conversation is complete."

Ronan then quietly stood by and watched the group. Ginny, who had not dealt with the centaurs before, whispered a question to the rest.

"Now what happens? Will we be able to leave freely?"

Harry reassured her.

"As long as we treat the centaurs with the respect they deserve, they should let us leave without any problems."

At that moment, they noticed that they were surrounded by a dozen centaurs, each with bow and arrow drawn. One moved to the center of the clearing, whom Harry recognized to be Bane, the leader of the herd.

"Why have you brought these young ones into our forest, Hagrid?"

Harry stepped forward to face Bane.

"I asked Hagrid to bring us here. We felt there were things going on at Hogwarts about which you needed to be consulted."

Bane seemed genuinely taken aback. Besides Dumbledore, he could not ever remember a wizard coming to consult with the centaurs. He quietly consulted with two of the other centaurs before returning to face Harry.

"What do you wish to speak to us about?"

"First of all, I wanted to tell you that Firenze died in the battle yesterday."

Bane paused before responding.

"That is unfortunate. However, Firenze had been banished from the herd, so that is no longer a concern of ours."

"Err … okay." Though Harry had expected this response, the lack of emotion still surprised him.

"Anyway, there is going to be a memorial service tonight where all the dead are going to be buried near Dumbledore's tomb. The plan is to bury Firenze along with everyone else. We thought it would be best to check with you to see if that is acceptable."

Bane once again seemed surprised. He took a few steps back and whispered with Ronan and Magorian. Then he turned to reply to Harry.

"As I said before, it is unfortunate Firenze died while involved with human activities. Since he had been banished from the herd, we lay no claim to his body. You may bury him with the others at Hogwarts. Will that be all?"

"There is one more thing. I was wondering if you would like to participate in the service. You know, maybe your own tribute to a brave centaur."

"Do you believe the humans would allow such a thing?"

"I do not know for sure, but I would think so. If you wished, I would insist on letting you participate, and I seem to have some influence at the moment."

Ron sniggered in the background.

"Perhaps more than a bit, mate."

Bane and the other centaurs consulted for a moment, then Bane gave their reply.

"We wish to thank you for your thoughtfulness, Harry Potter. We shall give this the consideration it deserves. Perhaps we shall see you again tonight."

With that the centaurs all turned and melted away into the forest. Hagrid turned and gave Harry a heavy slap on the back.

"All righ' Harry! I don't think I have ever seen Bane so flustered. Always keep them off balance. Might be the first time a human asked fer his permission fer anything before."

"Maybe it's about time someone did," added Hermione.

"Perhaps."

The five of them walked back out of the forest towards Hagrid's cabin. Hagrid went into his home, while the others continued on to the castle. They decided it was time to get back to the Great Hall and find the rest of the Weasley family. Harry was feeling good about their trip to see the centaurs, about being with his friends, and about soon being back with the Weasley family. But then suddenly his stomach started to churn, his appetite disappeared, and his mood turned gloomy. He just remembered that he was going to have to stand up and speak in front of everyone tonight.

OoOoO

Review and follow please.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Still don't own Harry Potter or the story.**

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CHAPTER TWO

FAIRWELL, GOODBYE

Harry was sitting in the Great Hall, back in a comfortable setting surrounded by his friends and surrogate family. He had spent months on the run, living for a time with just Ron and Hermione at number twelve Grimmauld Place, then in a tent throughout the back country of England. It seemed almost surreal to be eating good food, not to mention sitting peacefully with his best friends and the rest of the Weasley family. Despite his years growing up with the Dursleys on Privet Drive, Hogwarts was his true home and this was his true family.

Ron and Hermione were sitting together, seemingly oblivious to all else going on around them. Harry would have felt left out, but his own attention was focused almost solely upon Ginny, who was sitting close beside him. Harry could tell from the smirks and raised eyebrows that Ron's brother George was sending his way that he had noticed the two couples. So had Mr. Weasley, though Mrs. Weasley was so caught up with Fred's death and having her entire family around her that she had not yet made the connection. Harry was somewhat worried what her reaction would be when she did. Though he had never said so, Mrs. Weasley's opinions meant a great deal to him.

"So, any idea what you are going to say at the service tonight?" asked Ginny.

"Not really. Hermione said she was going to help me, but she and Ron have been a little preoccupied with each other."

"I don't think anyone is expecting any kind of prepared speech from you. Just tell them how you came to be at Hogwarts and why You-Know-Who followed you here. Make sure to explain why the battle was fought. Then add something nice about those who died to help comfort their families."

Hermione and Ron must have been listening because their attention turned to Harry and Ginny.

"I think you're just going to have to wing it, mate. You know, pretend like you're talking from the heart."

Hermione immediately punched Ron in the arm.

"Ron! Anyway, despite Ron's usual lack of sensitivity, he does have a point. I've been thinking about it, and I think you need to give everyone a reason why the fight had to happen here, and why their loved ones had to be involved. You need to mention how Voldemort had split his soul and how Dumbledore had found and eliminated some parts before he died. Then add how we went into the Ministry and Gringotts to eliminate some more pieces, and how we needed to get the part that was hidden here at Hogwarts. No need for details, we can provide those later. Just something about how we were only here to get Ravenclaw's diadem and Voldemort followed."

"Do you think it is a good idea to mention the Horcruxes?" asked Harry.

"I wouldn't use that word, but I think we have to explain what Dumbledore sent us out to do. Just be yourself, Harry. You're a pretty popular guy right now, so just be straightforward and everything will be fine."

Less than a year before when Dumbledore's funeral had occurred, the students had marched out of the castle and followed their Heads of Houses out onto the grounds. Today, there was no organization, as the losses from the battle seemed to have made family ties more important than that of the school houses. It seemed that the family of every Hogwarts student was here, along with the entire Order of the Phoenix, several recently graduated students, the entire population of Hogsmeade, and hundreds of other wizards and witches who were not familiar to Harry. Harry had thought he would never see a larger crowd than was here for Dumbledore's funeral, but the crowd today was at least double in size.

As he walked onto the grounds, Harry felt a chill. He did not know if it was from the falling temperature of the early evening or from the the solemn feeling of the moment. He felt a little better when Ginny grabbed his hand and walked with him to their seats near the front of the gathering.

A stage was set up just to the side of Dumbledore's white tomb. Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt was already on the stage, currently deep in conversation with Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn. Behind Dumbledore's tomb were a long line of caskets, filled with those who had lost their lives in the last few days.

The crowd was filing into their seats, with many standing in the back and in the aisles as there were not enough chairs for them all. Eventually a hush settled over the crowd. The same little tufty-haired man in plain black robes who was at Dumbledore's funeral and Bill and Fleur's wedding approached the podium and began to speak.

Harry found he had a hard time paying attention as speaker after speaker took their turn. Harry's chest tightened as fourth year student Dennis Creevey spoke, explaining how it had been his brother Colin's greatest wish to be able to fight the Dark Lord alongside Harry Potter, and while he was saddened by his brother's death he was also happy that his brother's wish had been fulfilled before he died.

Then Parvati Patil took the stage to speak on behalf of Lavender Brown. Parvati spoke of all the joys the two had shared at Hogwarts, then mentioned Lavender's pride at being part of Dumbledore's Army. She said that Lavender had never been so proud as she was about all she had accomplished while taking Harry's secret Defense Against the Dark Arts classes the year before. Because of that she never hesitated when it came time to decide whether to escape Hogwarts or to join in with its defenders. Harry felt a mixture of pride and guilt as he heard these words, both surprised that his "classes" had created that great of an impression on Lavender, while at the same time feeling that because of this he was responsible for her death. Ginny must have sensed the turmoil going on inside Harry as she leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"You can't blame yourself for Lavender and the others, Harry. Like you, they all thought this was a cause worth fighting for. They freely chose to participate. No one forced them. Their deaths were not your fault, they were the fault of Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Harry nodded but could not make any words come out of his mouth as the tears started welling up in his eyes. Intellectually, he understood Ginny's point, but his gut was telling him something very different.

Next on the stage was Andromeda Tonks, holding Remus and Nymphadora's baby, Teddy Lupin, in her arms. Despite all the losses she had suffered, she seemed determined and optimistic. She talked about how her husband, Ted, had been killed by a gang of snatchers. She went on to talk about how her daughter had managed to find love in the dark days of the last two years, gotten married and gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.

"When the word came that Voldemort and his Death Eaters were attacking Hogwarts, Remus and Nymphadora could have been expected to stay home and keep themselves and young Teddy safe. Instead, they chose to join the fight. It is a great tragedy that Teddy will grow up not knowing his parents."

Harry felt she had been staring straight at him as she was speaking.

"However, Remus and Nymphadora died because they wanted to make the world a better place in which their son could live. In this they succeeded. What nobler sacrifice can a set of parents make?"

Harry broke into tears as Mrs. Tonks finished. The exact same thing could have been said about his own parents sixteen years ago. Like the Lupins, they had given their lives to make Harry's world a better place. As Ginny wrapped an arm around him, Harry felt a sudden responsibility to live his life well, so that his parents' sacrifice would not be in vain. He also vowed that he would do whatever he could to help out his godson, young Teddy Lupin, in life.

The last relative of the casualties to speak was George Weasley on behalf of his twin brother Fred. George had the look of a financially successful wizard, dressed in his new dragon skin jacket. Those who had known George through the years could hardly imagine seeing him unless he was laughing and joking with Fred or as the two of them were playing a practical joke on someone else.

But the George Weasley on the stage today showed the cost of the fight against Voldemort. The side of his head was scarred where his ear had been cursed off less than a year ago. But the most obvious difference was that before he was almost always in the company of his twin brother. Now, he was alone. But even alone, the spirit that he and Fred always seemed to radiate was still there.

"When Fred and I received word of the upcoming battle at Hogwarts, we immediately responded. Not because we thought it might result in the end of Voldemort, but because Hogwarts, the Hogwarts before the Ministry and the Death Eaters interfered, was a place that needed to be defended. Hogwarts was where we grew up, where we figured out what our place was to be in the Wizarding world."

"We came back to fight for our friends, for our family and for Hogwarts. When Fred was killed, it was like a part of me also died. But he died fighting for something that we both believed in. Fred's death will leave a hole in our family that will never be filled. But at the same time he has brought us together closer than we have ever been before. To my brother I say, "Goodbye, and thank you."

As George left the stage he was almost tackled as Mrs. Weasley rushed up to envelope him in a hug. Harry looked over to see how Ginny was doing, but her seat was already empty as she was sprinting to reach George herself. Soon the entire Weasley family was in front of the stage, tears both of sorrow from Fred's death and joy from the closeness of their family streaming down their faces. Finally, Mr. Weasley took control of the situation and led his family back to their seats.

After all had settled down, Kingsley Shacklebolt took the stage. Before he could begin speaking, a murmur grew and the crowd turned towards the Forbidden Forest, where the herd of centaurs had just come out and were advancing towards the stage. They did not get too close, but Bane advanced out in front and spoke just two words.

"For Firenze!"

As the crowd shrieked, the rest of the centaurs fired a shower of arrows which passed over the caskets and landed in the lake beyond. Bane gave a quick nod to Harry, which Harry returned. Then Bane pivoted on his hind legs and led the centaurs back into the forest.

After a moment or two which were needed to quiet the assembled throng, Kingsley returned to the podium. He was the new Minister of Magic. Though he was a member of the Ministry for years, Kingsley had also secretly been a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Through them he worked with Dumbledore and the rest of the order with the goal of bringing about the downfall of Lord Voldemort.

"We have spent this evening honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the fight against Lord Voldemort, his Death Eaters, and all that they stood for. The battle at Hogwarts has been won. But I am here to warn you that the war is not over."

"When Voldemort and the Death Eaters recently gained control of the Ministry, many changes were made in the Wizarding world. Those whose parents were not magical were persecuted relentlessly. The education of our children was turned over to those who would encourage the use of the Dark Arts instead of teaching our children how to defend against them. Muggles were persecuted. Dementors, giants and werewolves were set loose to intimidate and terrorize those who stood up for the rights of all wizards. Voldemort and his Death Eaters may be gone, but we still need to make sure these changes are reversed and steps are taken to ensure they do not happen again."

"The Ministry has not been very effective in looking out for the rights and welfare of all these last few years. My primary task going forward is make sure the Ministry is more concerned with performing its duties and less concerned with its own public relations. Part of this will mean there will be changes of personnel and focus at The Daily Prophet, so that this publication will print the truth, whether it is convenient for the Ministry or not. You will be hearing more about this in the near future."

"So, what has happened in the last day or so? First of all, we have rounded up all the giants and returned them to their homes in the mountains, with one notable exception."

At this, Kingsley and most of the crowd turned towards the back where Hagrid and his half-brother, the giant Grawp, were sitting. Kingsley let a smile cross his face and then continued.

"The dementors have all been returned to Azkaban, where they are guarding those surviving Death Eaters as well as the Ministry officials who were in charge of the persecution of Muggle-born wizards. The Ministry has still not decided whether to continue with the use of the dementors at Azkaban or not. Albus Dumbledore, for one, was deeply opposed to their use by the Ministry, a point of view that seems to be backed up by the way they went over to Voldemort during our recent crisis."

"With the death of Fenrir Greyback, the only intentionally dangerous werewolf is now gone. Thanks to the recent development of a potion that can help werewolves get through the full moon, we can now attempt to reintegrate werewolves into society in general. The success of this potion has inspired us to start an intern program here at Hogwarts where exceptional students stay after graduation as associate professors to help develop new cures and potions. Professors Slughorn and Sprout will be overseeing the program."

Harry looked at Ginny. He had been afraid that the Ministry might wish to shut down Hogwarts for good. But this statement from Shacklebolt must mean Hogwarts was staying open!

"All of which leads me to the future of the school here at Hogwarts. The actions recently of the group of students known as 'Dumbledore's Army', both those who were here and the ones who rushed back when they heard they were needed, proves to us at the Ministry that Hogwarts is indeed an invaluable part of the Wizarding community. I think George Weasley summed up nicely how many of us feel about this institution. Even with long time headmaster Albus Dumbledore gone, Hogwarts can and should be the place where the wizarding youth can find their place in the world. However, this year has been a disruptive and in many ways non-productive year for the students, so a number of special changes must be made for the end of the school year."

"First of all, Professor Minerva McGonagall has been named the new Headmistress of Hogwarts. She joins a long line of noble leaders of this institution, and her performance as assistant Headmistress as well as the way she was able to protect the students during this current school year make her the obvious choice for the position."

"Second, Hogwarts will be closed for the next two weeks to give all the students time to spend with their families after the traumatic events of the last few days. This will also give the Ministry time to help repair the damage done here in the last few days. Hogwarts will then reopen, not just through the end of the school year but also for a special summer session as well."

Harry's attention was grabbed by that last part. He had no idea what he was going to do in the near future, but it sounded as though Kingsley was providing a way for him to spend the coming months at Hogwarts while he figured out where to go next with his life.

"Since Defense Against the Dark Arts was not really taught this year, the students will receive a highly concentrated course during the rest of the year. In addition to teaching her normal Transfiguration classes, Headmistress McGonagall will help teach Defense Against the Dark Arts to some of the older students while Molly Weasley has agreed to teach the younger students as well as taking over as head of Gryffindor house for the summer. There will be one exception, however. Those students who stayed behind and participated in the battle will be considered to have completed the course and will receive top marks on their N.E.W.T.s."

"For those students who missed out on a lot of their classes because they were forced into hiding in the Room of Requirement, or otherwise occupied," Kingsley looked at Harry at this time, "there will be accelerated sessions of all their classes to prepare for the O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. tests which will be held at the end of the summer session."

"I have one last note concerning changes in personnel. Due to Professor Charity Burbage being murdered by Lord Voldemort, Hogwarts is in need of a new Professor of Muggle Studies. Arthur Weasley has agreed to return to Hogwarts to fill this position, at least for the summer session."

Harry was feeling great. He had a whole summer at Hogwarts to look forward to with most of the Weasley family around him. It might be the best summer of his life. He looked over at Ginny and she was smiling back at him. Apparently some of the same thoughts had crossed her mind. Harry reached down and held Ginny's hand, and felt as happy as he could ever remember. Then his moment of peace and tranquility was shattered when he heard Kingsley wrap up his speech.

"Now let's hear a few words from the one most responsible for the defeat of Lord Voldemort, Hogwarts' very own Harry Potter."

An icy ball suddenly appeared in the pit of Harry's stomach. He slowly stood up and walked towards the stage as a wild round of applause erupted around him. As he mounted the stage, Kingsley shook his hand vigorously and led him to the speaker's position. After he reached the podium, the crowd went silent and waited for Harry to speak.

"Err … I'm not much of a public speaker …"

Harry paused for a bit as his throat felt too dry to continue. He looked up and saw Ginny with a supportive look on her face. He then saw Hermione mouthing the words "You can do it" and saw Ron also silently expressing his support. Harry took a deep breath and returned to facing the crowd.

"Today has been a very emotional day for me as I am sure it has been for many of you. It is painful to think of all the friends and classmates who lost their lives here. I figure that those of you who fought here and the families of those who died deserve to know why this battle had to be fought at Hogwarts."

The crowd was silent. It was obvious this is what they had been hoping to hear today.

"At the beginning of last year, I had several private meetings with Professor Dumbledore where he started showing me the information he had gathered on Lord Voldemort. It turned out that Voldemort had once been a student here named Tom Riddle. Dumbledore's information showed that Riddle was obsessed with avoiding death. Therefore, in an attempt to become immortal, he found a way to split his soul into seven pieces. One piece stayed inside him, but he hid the other six pieces in various objects which were important to him. So, this meant that Riddle could not be completely killed unless all six extra pieces of his soul were destroyed first."

"One of them, which had been hidden in a diary, was destroyed here at Hogwarts five years ago just after the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. At the time, I don't think anyone except the Headmaster had figured out what it was. Early last year, Professor Dumbledore found and destroyed a second one, which resulted in that mysterious injury we all noticed on his right hand. On that awful night when he was killed a little less than a year ago, Professor Dumbledore and myself had just returned from a trip where we erroneously thought we had found a third piece."

Harry noticed that despite the huge crowd present the grounds were as quiet as he had ever heard. When he looked around he saw every pair of eyes in attendance looking back at him. After hesitating a moment, he continued.

"After Professor Dumbledore died, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and I decided that he would want us to keep trying to find and destroy the pieces of Riddle's soul. So we did not return to Hogwarts but instead continued the search. If you remember the disturbances at the Ministry last autumn, that was when we broke in and took a third piece that Dolores Umbridge was unwittingly carrying around inside a locket."

Harry looked up and noticed Mr. Weasley reacting in surprise. Obviously he hadn't realized that Harry, Ron and Hermione were the ones who caused all the uproar in the Ministry that day.

"We thought we were doing everything on our own, but we were receiving some anonymous and mysterious help that turned out to be from Professor Snape. You all know Severus Snape as the Death Eater who took over Hogwarts on behalf of Lord Voldemort this year, but Snape had been spying on Voldemort on behalf of Dumbledore since the death of my parents sixteen years ago. Dumbledore had always claimed that Professor Snape was on our side, but I never believed it until it was too late. I regret this deeply. It turned out that Severus Snape was the bravest person I have ever known."

"Also, we were captured by snatchers and taken to the Malfoy mansion at one point and were saved when Aberforth Dumbledore, who had been trying to keep an eye out for us, sent Dobby the house-elf to rescue us before Voldemort could arrive. Dobby died during that rescue, one more hero who needs to be honored along with those we are memorializing today."

"The break-in at Gringotts a few days ago was us again. We managed to get the fourth piece of Riddle's soul at that time. Unfortunately for us, our escape from Gringotts was rather public, and Voldemort figured out that we were searching for the pieces of his soul. We were pretty sure the fifth piece was at Hogwarts, so we rushed here before Voldemort could arrive and hide it elsewhere. Our hope was to find it and get away before he appeared, but either we were too slow or he was too quick. All of those here insisted on helping by fighting off the Death Eaters, to provide us the time we needed to find that fifth piece, even though we never told anyone exactly what we were looking for. For that we will always be grateful. However, we never wanted to get the rest of you involved. We never … never wanted our friends to have to risk their lives."

Harry's breath caught in his throat and he could not go on. He thought of Remus, Tonks, Fred, Lavender, Colin, Firenze and the others. He thought about friends and acquaintances who died in order to help him. The enormity of it all suddenly struck Harry like a punch to the stomach. Next thing he knew, Ron and Hermione were by his side.

"Do you want us to take over, Harry?"

"Yeah, we can do that, mate."

Suddenly strengthened by the support of his friends, Harry shook his head. He swallowed hard and resumed his spot at the podium.

"Anyway … err … we found the fifth piece during the battle. It was in Ravenclaw's lost diadem, and we found it in the Room of Requirement, where Riddle had hidden it years ago. We were attacked there by some Slytherin students whose fathers were Death Eaters. The diadem, and with it the fifth piece of Riddle's soul, was destroyed by Fiendfyre in that fight."

"That left just one piece to go. It was in Nagini, Voldemort's pet snake. Our good friend Neville Longbottom took care of that one when he killed the serpent with Gryffindor's sword. This meant that when I dueled with Voldemort in the Great Hall, he had no pieces of his soul to fall back on. It was a fight to the death, for both of us."

Harry took another glance at the crowd, then at Ron and Hermione, before continuing.

"We had always hoped to do everything on our own, and not to have to get our friends and classmates involved. Looking back, that was a foolish hope. We could never have succeeded without all the help we received. So I guess I would like to finish by saying that we are very thankful for everyone who helped us, and to the families of those we are honoring this evening, we're … we're …"

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione again. He was desperately searching for a phrase to sum up his thankfulness, his grief, and all the other myriad emotions swirling about in his head. But suddenly, all he felt was exhaustion. He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to run away, to hide in the Gryffindor common room, to sleep. When he finally spoke, it was as if his last bit of energy escaped with the words.

"… we're very sorry."

Harry left the stage in front of the silent crowd. Ron and Hermione followed him off the stage and they all took their seats. Ginny took his hand but said nothing, as though she knew that her presence was all that he needed, and silence was all that he desired.

Just then a shower of sparks shot into the sky and a cloud of smoke surrounded the coffins, which were slowly lowering into the ground. Simultaneously, a pillar was rising from the ground. It was inscribed with the following words:

"Help will always be found at Hogwarts

by those who seek it."

Albus Dumbledore

With that, the service ended. Everyone left their seats and gathered in small family groups. Harry and Ginny joined the rest of the Weasley family, and Harry was immediately enveloped in a painfully strong hug from a crying Mrs. Weasley. Soon she had Ron and Hermione in her arms as well.

"I am so proud of the three of you. I can't imagine all you've been through, and I am so relieved you're not hurt. I just don't know what I'd have done if we'd lost anyone else in our family."

Hermione looked surprised that she had been included as a part of the Weasley family, but Harry was touched deep inside. The Weasleys were the closest thing he ever had to a family, and their home, the Burrow, was the closest thing he had to a home besides Hogwarts.

As they all moved to return to the castle for the night, Neville was waiting for them. He walked beside Harry in order to speak with him.

"Blimey, Harry, you never told me that snake was carrying around a part of Voldemort's soul. If I had known that, I don't think I would have been able to round up enough courage to face Voldemort and kill Nagini."

"Sure you would have, Neville," jumped in Hermione. "You always had the ability, and you always had the courage. You just needed confidence. I think you developed that this year while Harry, Ron and I were gone."

"That's right," agreed Harry. "After all, how do you think you were able to pull that sword out of the sorting hat? When I ddi back in our second year in the Chamber of Secrets, Dumbledore told me that only a true Gryffindor would have been able to do that."

Looking more filled with confidence than Harry had ever seen in him before, Neville strode off to join his grandmother. Beside them, Luna and her father were also returning to the castle.

Ron also watched Neville walk away, and he remembered how the Sword of Gryffindor had showed up in a lake for him to find when they needed it to open Slytherin's locket.

"That sword sure does seem to get around. I wonder how it got from Griphook having it at Gringotts to being in the sorting hat."

"And I wonder what Griphook and the other goblins are going to think about it," added Hermione.

Harry was too tired to think deeply about anything. Instead, he made his way into the castle and followed the rest of the Gryffindors up to the common room. Harry selected a seat in front of the fire, where Ginny joined him. Soon the exhaustion of the day overtook him, and oblivious to the others in the room, he drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to any of the attendees at the service, a couple of other people were watching at the edge of the treeline. A few of the Death Eaters had managed to avoid capture during the battle, and after observing the end of the ceremonies, they disappeared deeper into the depths of the Forbidden Forest.

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**Review favorite and all that jazz.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N I don't own Harry Potter yet, nor do I own this story.**

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CHAPTER THREE

WELCOME BACK

Harry slowly emerged from sleep to a groggy state of wakefulness. He noticed that he was still in front of the fire in the common room. He decided must have fallen asleep there without going into the dormitory to his four poster bed. He slowly looked to the right and saw owls flying happily outside the window. Then he turned slowly to the left and saw Ginny sitting beside him, a wide grin spread across her face.

"About time you woke up. For a while there I wasn't sure you were ever going to notice me. Everyone else is already down in the Great Hall."

"You mean we're all alone in here?"

"We are for the moment. Ron has been annoying. He keeps finding excuses to come in here every 20-30 minutes. I don't think he trusts us alone together."

Harry rubbed his eyes and tried to shake off the feeling that comes when he was halfway between being asleep and awake.

"Sorry I slept so long. I feel as though I could sleep for a week and still not be caught up. It sure is nice to find you here though. It makes waking up worthwhile."

Ginny slid over and leaned hard against Harry. The emotions of last night drained away and the joys of the previous spring came flooding back. At that point they heard the door to the common room swing open and Ron came in, as if on cue.

"Oh hey, 'bout time you woke up, mate. I just came up here get the Deluminator Dumbledore gave me. Seamus wanted to see how it works. You two ought to come down, some people are starting to leave for their two week vacation."

"We'll be down soon, Ron."

Ron looked like he would protest, but instead went into the dormitory and reappeared shortly thereafter with the Deluminator in his hand.

"I'll tell Mum you'll be down in a few minutes," he said on the way out.

"Oh, that Ron! He is so annoying! He still treats me like I am a little girl."

"I thought he might be more understanding, especially after I almost had to pry him and Hermione apart in the Room of Requirement during the battle."

Ginny found this very interesting and insisted on getting all the details from Harry. Afterwards, she smiled happily.

"It was about time those two got together. Everyone else knew they belonged together for years now. For all the advice Hermione gave me on how to win you over, she seemed to have a lot of trouble following her own advice with him."

Harry grinned. He always suspected that Hermione had been helping to get Ginny and him together.

"It is always easier to tell others what to do in their lives than to figure out what to do with your own. Don't worry, Ginny. I am sure we can count on Hermione to keep Ron plenty busy in the near future."

Ginny smiled and gave Harry a quick kiss. Then Harry cleaned up a little and they went down together to the Great Hall. As soon as they entered, Harry noticed the room seemed brighter today. The bright blue look of the ceiling indicated it must be a clear and sunny day outside. The two were immediately approached by Mr. Weasley.

"Ginny, please go see your mother. She has been anxiously waiting for you. Harry, Minister Shacklebolt would like to talk to you before he goes back to the Ministry. He is waiting in the other corner over there with Ron and Hermione."

Intrigued, Harry walked over to see the Minister. In the past, Harry's meetings with the previous Ministers of Magic had not gone very well. But Harry was more optimistic this time. Kingsley Shacklebolt had always seemed to be a good guy, and he had been a member of the Order of the Phoenix. He had even been a guest on Lee Jordan's wireless program, _Potterwatch_. Harry thought that he would be a good choice to attempt to fix all the problems the Ministry.

"Harry, it is good to see you this morning," said Minister Shacklebolt when Harry approached. "Please, come join us. I have a need to speak with each of the three of you."

Things were certainly starting out pleasantly enough, but meetings with previous Ministers had also started out cordially. Harry shook hands with the Minister and sat down next to Ron. A photographer was quietly standing behind the Minister.

"First of all, I need to ask the three of you for a favor. I know you have had your problems with the Ministry and with _The Daily Prophet_, but I would like you to let this photographer take your picture. We are putting a story in the paper to clear up some rumors and let the truth be known about what happened here. The reporter has written the story from your speech yesterday, Harry, and Miss Granger here has looked it over, made certain it was truthful and made a few corrections. But we'd like a picture of the three of you to go with it. Is that acceptable?"

Harry nodded and he, Ron and Hermione posed briefly. The photographer took their picture and then left the hall.

"Thank you. Now, let's get back to business. Professor McGonagall tells me that you two gentlemen have expressed an interest in careers in our Auror department. As you may know, I worked as an Auror before I was appointed Minister of Magic."

"Well, we have," said Ron slowly, "but we weren't sure if our grades were good enough."

"I assume you will be working hard during the upcoming summer session to earn as many N.E.W.T.s as possible. However, as long as your academics are close, I think it is fair to say that you have already proven your abilities to be successful Aurors. We are reorganizing the Auror department, and are going to have them work in pairs. I feel that people tend to perform better in a stressful situation when they have a friend or co-worker watching their back. I think the two of you, with your ability to work as a team, would make an effective addition to the Auror department."

Ron and Harry both looked at each other with a slight amount of surprise on their faces. Harry had not been planning on making career decisions at this point in his life, and he could tell from one look at his face that neither had Ron. Kingsley seemed to sense their indecision.

"I do not need a definite answer today. Just please contact me before you make any other career decisions. We could really use the two of you in the Auror department."

"We'll do that, sir," said Harry.

"What about Hermione?" asked Ron.

"I have no desire to be an Auror," explained Hermione.

"Miss Granger and I have already had a conversation about a way she can be of service to the Ministry. I assume you are still considering my proposal?"

"Yes, I am, Minister. I would also like the finish the summer session before I make that decision."

"That sounds fair enough, Miss Granger. Now Harry, I have two more items I would like to discuss with you. First, Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones are going to be escorting the Dursleys back to their house today, now that the threat to them is over. Would you care to be there when they arrive?"

Harry's first impulse was to have nothing else to do with the Dursleys. But after seeing glimpses of Aunt Petunia's childhood with his mom and young Severus Snape, he thought he should probably speak to her. Besides, just in case he wasn't going to see them again, it would only be proper to bid them a final farewell.

"I suppose I should," Harry admitted reluctantly. He turned to face Ron and Hermione. "Do you two wish to come along?"

"Well, um …" hesitated Ron. Hermione took over speaking.

"We're heading out in a bit to go to Australia and find my parents. I have to break the memory charm I put on them and let them know it is safe to come home. I just hope they are not too upset when they find out what I did to them," she added with a touch of worry in her voice.

Almost a year ago, before she set off with Harry and Ron to track down Voldemort's horcruxes, Hermione had put a memory charm on her parents which convinced them that it was their dream to live in Australia. She did this to keep Voldemort from trying to get at Hermione (and thus Harry) through her parents. Now that the danger had passed, it was time to bring them home.

Kingsley reentered the conversation. He asked Harry to stay a bit longer to talk privately. Ron and Hermione left to rejoin the Weasley family.

"I have one more request to make of you, Harry. I have an appointment shortly with the Muggle Prime Minister to let him know things should be better with Voldemort and his Death Eaters defeated. I would like you to come along. You could go from that meeting and still be in time to meet the Dursleys."

"Why do you want just me to come with you to see the Prime Minister?"

"I need to be able to assure the Prime Minister that we have the magical world under control, but I also feel we need to tell him what all happened. I think it would help to have you along for that part. Can I count on you? I'm leaving in an hour. You can bring along a friend or two if you like."

Harry couldn't see what good he would be able to do with the Prime Minister, but if Shacklebolt thought he could help, he was willing to go along.

"Sure, I'd be glad to go, sir."

"Great. We'll be going in through the front door, so be sure to wear your best Muggle clothing. I think the previous Ministers of Magic popping in through the fireplace in full wizard's robes did not exactly put the Prime Minister at ease."

Harry chuckled at the thought.

"No, I imagine that might disturb most Muggles, sir."

"Yes," said Shacklebolt, "I do not think many wizards stop to consider things from the Muggle perspective. That's another reason I would like you to come along. Having been raised by Muggles, you are more appreciative of their concerns."

Kingsley gave him a smile and then walked to the head table to talk with Professor McGonagall and the other Hogwarts teachers. Harry returned to where the Weasley family was gathered. Mrs. Weasley was busy saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione.

"Now Ron, make sure you follow whatever Hermione says. You're going to be out in the Muggle world, you make sure you listen to her. She is the expert there."

"Yes, mother."

"Compared to Ron, Hermione is pretty much the expert anywhere," added George.

Mrs. Weasley shot George a stare that could scare the hardest of men.

"We are going to the Burrow tonight to spend a few days at home before coming back to get ready for the summer session. You can meet us there when you come back. And give our regards to the Grangers. Make sure you thank them for all the times they allowed Hermione to stay at the Burrow."

Ron was nodding when George piped in.

"And don't embarrass the family by acting like an absolute git."

Mrs. Weasley smacked the back of George's head, while Ron's brothers Percy and Bill erupted into gales of laughter. Even Mr. Weasley could be seen trying to hold in a chuckle. Harry was glad to see that even with Fred's death, there was still some evidence of the pure happiness he had almost always experienced around the Weasley family.

Goodbyes were said all around, and after a session of hugs and handshakes, Ron and Hermione were off to begin their journey to Australia. After they were out the door, Mrs. Weasley turned to face Harry.

"Well, it is time we were off ourselves. Harry dear, would you like to go back to the Burrow with the rest of us this afternoon? You can stay in Ron's room."

"I'd love to, but first I need to take a couple of short trips. I am going to be leaving with Minster Shacklebolt in a few minutes to visit the Muggle Prime Minister."

"Oh, what an honor!"

"Yeah, then afterwards we are going to Little Whinging to welcome the Dursleys back to their house."

Mrs. Weasley thought of the times she had met the Dursleys, and a frown crossed her face. It was apparent she would rather Harry did not have to associate with those people anymore.

"Well, yes, I imagine that is important. Would you like any of us to accompany you to see the Dursleys?"

Harry hesitated as he thought how he was going to make his request.

"Well, the Dursleys seemed to be a little scared the last time a crew from your family showed up. They are not real fond of the magical world or of witches or wizards. I was hoping, however, that maybe Ginny would come along with me, you know, for a little moral support."

Ginny's head popped up with a big bright smile on her face.

"That sounds like fun. I'd love to come along and help you out, Harry."

Mrs. Weasley was wearing a very confused look on her face. She obviously could not figure out why Harry would rather have Ginny along than one of the older members of the family. As George nearly doubled over laughing, a bemused Mr. Weasley leaned over and started whispering in his wife's ear. When he finished, Mrs. Weasley tried to respond, but all that came out was a series of sputtering sounds.

"Well … um … I see … well …"

Mr. Weasley came to the rescue.

"That would be perfectly fine, Harry. I'm sure Kingsley will make sure the two of you stay safe. When you come back to the Burrow tonight, we will have removed the charms and protections around it, so the two of you will be able to Apparate right into the back yard. Just bring down your bags and we will take them to the Burrow with us."

"Thanks, Mr. Weasley. We'll meet you tonight at the Burrow."

Harry and Ginny quickly left to get their baggage. Harry told Ginny to change into her best Muggle clothes. Ginny couldn't help giggling most of the way back to the Gryffindor tower.

"I thought Mom was going to throw a fit. I wish I had a picture of her face when Dad was talking to her. I'd love to be able to show it to Hermione."

"That was definitely the type of moment Hermione would have appreciated. Ron would have loved it too. Do you think your Mom is going to be OK with us? I don't want to upset her. She's always been very good to me."

"Mom will be fine once she's had a few minutes to settle down. She'll be easier to deal with than Ron."

Harry grimaced at that thought. He hoped his best friend would soon come around and not be concerned about his relationship with Ginny. When Harry first considered going out with Ginny over a year ago, he decided he would only do so if Ron didn't object. Now, if it came to a choice between the two, Harry thought he'd probably pick Ginny over his best friend. But he didn't ever want to have to tell that to anyone.

Harry and Ginny went to their respective rooms, changed their clothes, packed their bags and returned to the Great Hall. Minister Shacklebolt was awaiting them. After dropping off their things with the Weasleys, they walked out of the castle and through the grounds towards Hogsmeade, since they had to leave Hogwarts before they would be able to Apparate.

Once they reached Hogsmeade, Kingsley asked, "So, are you two able to Apparate?"

"I had to leave Hogwarts before my lessons were complete," admitted Ginny.

"I know how to Apparate. We had to do so often during the last year," added Harry. "But I never passed the official test, so I guess I am not supposed to."

"In that case, I'll take you two using side by side Apparition today. You will both need to take the lessons and pass the test during your summer session. Harry, I would advise you to keep the amount of Apparition you do down to an absolute minimum until you officially complete the test. I think we can all agree that due to your activities this last year, special consideration needs to be made in your case. No one is ever going to cause you any trouble for Apparating without your license, but it is still not a good idea to do so more than is necessary. So, our appointment with the Prime Minister is in ten minutes. We will Apparate to a parking garage and then use the normal building entrance. Each of you, grab one of my hands, and we'll be off."

As often as he had Apparated, Harry had never grown to enjoy the sensation. He felt as if his body was being squeezed from all directions. Dumbledore had once told him that the feeling took some getting used to. Harry was not convinced that day would ever come. He opened his eyes and found himself with Ginny and Shacklebolt in a parking garage, glad the experience was once again over. Ginny, on the other hand, reacted differently.

"Wow, I can't wait until I learn how to do that! It beats flying a thestral any day!"

"That it does, young lady. That it does. Come, follow me. Our appointment is just a few minutes away."

Kingsley led them into the government building and through several hallways. Eventually, they reached their destination, where a serious looking man was seated behind a desk.

"Shacklebolt, we haven't seen you around here in a couple of days. What have you been up to?"

"I had some personal business to attend to, Harper. Anyway, I have an appointment to see the Prime Minister. Is he ready to see us?"

"Oh, so you're his mysterious one o'clock? Let me check to see if he is available."

Harper picked up the phone and talked quietly into it. After half a minute, he put the receiver back down and looked up at Kingsley.

"The Prime Minister will see you now, Shacklebolt."

Kingsley, Harry and Ginny walked into the Muggle Prime Minister's office. Kingsley closed the door after they entered.

"Shacklebolt, where have you been the last couple of days?", demanded the Prime Minister. "And why do you have these two teenagers with you?"

"I will get to them in a minute, sir. But first, I need to start by offering my resignation. I have accepted another post elsewhere."

"Oh, we shall miss you Shacklebolt. Is it another protective assignment for the, um, other world?"

"You could say that. I have been named the new Minster of Magic."

The Prime Minister gave a look of surprise.

"Congratulations! You folks seem to change leaders more often than we do. What happened to that last chap, ah, Scrimgeour? He seemed to be a step up from that Fudge fellow."

"I'm afraid Scrimgeour is dead. He was killed by the Dark Lord last summer. The Dark Lord took over the Ministry after that. I'm sorry we didn't give you more updates then, but it was thought you would be safest if we kept you out of our internal political problems and wars."

Kingsley spent the next several minutes bringing the Prime Minister up to date, with Harry and Ginny occasionally adding to the conversation. The Prime Minister seemed quite incredulous at times, but in the end he seemed relieved and hopeful that he should be seeing no more troubles from the Wizarding world. Kingsley decided to leave him with some good news at the end.

"I am having a telephone installed in my office. Here is the number. I figure in the future you would prefer a standard phone call to a wizard springing out through your fireplace. Plus, this way you can contact me if you feel the need."

"Yes, some normal conversation would be a welcome change."

Standing up, the Prime Minister shook hands with Ginny, Harry and Kingsley.

"So long, Shacklebolt. You'll forgive me if I tell you that I hope we rarely see each other in the future."

"That is my wish as well. Good luck, Prime Minister, and our apologies for the troubles our world has caused you."

With that, they all exited the office.

"That certainly went well," said Kingsley. "Maybe it wasn't necessary, but it was the correct thing to do. Much like our next task, right Harry? Now it is off to the Dursley residence. I believe we should get there ahead of Dedalus and Hestia."

Once they were alone in the parking garage, they Apparated directly into the Dursley's house on Privet Drive. It had the look of a home that had not been lived in for several months. There were cobwebs in the corners and a layer of dust covering everything. Aunt Petunia would be scandalized if she saw her house this way. Kingsley must have realized this, because he took out his wand and waved it a few times while saying something quietly to himself. The dust and the cobwebs were swept away, leaving the place even nicer than Aunt Petunia's standards of cleanliness. Harry thought how magic could be a wonderful thing when used properly.

Harry showed the other two around his old place. Ginny was appalled when he showed them the closet under the steps where he slept until he was eleven. Kingsley seemed less surprised. Harry guessed someone had previously described it to him. Next he showed them his room upstairs, including the loose floor board under which he stored all the things that he didn't want the Dursleys to find. Harry was saddened to find a few feathers under the floor board, a reminder of his owl Hedwig who had been killed in a Death Eater attack less than a year ago. Ginny was happier when he showed her the window that had been pulled out of the wall by Fred and George with her father's flying car years ago.

As they were coming back downstairs, the front door opened and the Dursleys were led back into their house by Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones. The Dursleys, especially Dudley, seemed to be tentative about entering their home. Dedalus showed no such hesitancy and he rushed up to Harry.

"Harry Potter! How very good to see you again! Fantastic work, taking out the Dark Lord the way you did. Word of it was all over the Daily Prophet. We wish we had been there to help out."

The Dursleys slowly followed, wearing the wary expressions they usually wore when dealing with people from the magical world. Harry's Uncle Vernon was to first to recognize and point at Kingsley.

"You're that chap we see on the news, who's protecting the Prime Minister."

"Correct Mr. Dursley. That was my last assignment. My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt, and I am now the new Minister of Magic. I assume Dedalus and Hestia informed you why there is no longer any threat to you and why it is safe to return to your home. I am here to welcome you back to your home and to apologize for the troubles you have endured these last few months."

"I should say you should apologize. About bloody time your lot got things under control. I've been gone so long from my job there's probably no way they will take me back. What are you going to do about that, Shacklebolt?"

Harry was infuriated at Uncle Vernon's tone. Didn't he realize the danger he had been in and all that had been done to protect him? Harry was just about to fire back an angry retort when Kingsley laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"First of all, you will have to thank Harry for your return, since he is the one who finally defeated the Dark Lord."

Aunt Petunia and Dudley looked startled by that revelation, but Uncle Vernon gave a look that clearly demonstrated the last thing he was ever going to do was thank Harry.

"As for your employer, he thinks you have been working in New Zealand, and indeed, your company's sales there have picked up. You will find that you have been paid for all the time you were away and that a tidy sum has built up in your account. Also, I would expect there might be a promotion or a raise awaiting you when you return to work next Monday."

"Well," stuttered Uncle Vernon, "that's more like it. Good to see someone is in charge who knows how to properly get things done."

Kingsley, Dedalus and Hestia decided they had heard enough and headed for the door.

"Again, our apologies for your inconvenience, and we shall not stay any longer," finished Kingsley. "Harry, I trust you can get Miss Weasley back to the Burrow?"

After an affirmative nod from Harry, Kingsley said goodbye and was gone out the front door. A moment later, a loud CRACK noise indicated the three of them had Disapparated away.

"Well, what are you still doing here?" growled Uncle Vernon.

"Just thought I'd say a final goodbye, but mostly I wanted to talk to Dudley and Aunt Petunia."

"Do you realize how long we were gone? All the months we spent in hiding while your lot tried to get their acts together …"

"We were all risking our lives trying to stop Voldemort," interrupted Ginny. "Harry especially …"

Uncle Vernon rounded on Ginny.

"You be quiet! I wasn't talking to ..."

At that point Harry's wand was out and pointed straight at Uncle Vernon's head.

"You will not talk to her that way! She had two brothers suffer disfiguring facial injuries and a third brother die while fighting Voldemort! Meanwhile you were off being 'inconvenienced' somewhere. You couldn't have suffered too much, seeing as you certainly didn't lose any weight these past months!"

Harry was as mad as he had ever been, a fact which Uncle Vernon must have noticed because he immediately backed down, while Ginny had her hands on Harry's shoulders, trying to get him to remain calm.

Uncle Vernon felt the need to get in one last verbal shot.

"Well, at least you brought that Shacklebolt bloke along instead of that rude old Dunderhead, or whatever his name was who came last year."

Harry took a deep breath before responding in a sorrowful, quiet voice.

"Professor Dumbledore died in the last year. So did a number of good men and women, as well as some of my classmates."

A period of silence fell over the room, which was broken only when Dudley spoke.

"You said you wanted to say something to me, Harry?"

"Oh, yeah. I just wanted you to know that all those dementors have been rounded up and sent back to Azkaban. There is even talk of doing away with them altogether. So there should be no chance of you ever running into one of them again. If you wish, I could perform a memory charm and make you forget you ever met a dementor, but I don't want to do that without your permission. To be honest, I really don't think I should be messing around with your memories anyway."

Aunt Petunia let out a little squeak which showed what she thought about the idea of Harry tampering with Dudley's mind. Dudley appeared to be lost in thought for a moment. Harry could not recall seeing that look on him before.

"No, I want to remember the dementors. The way you chased them away is one of the only good memories I have of us together."

That left just Aunt Petunia. Harry had never gotten along with her, though once in a while he saw traces of his mother in her mannerisms. After seeing Snape's memories of her and Harry's mother Lily in childhood, he thought he now understood some of his aunt's jealousy towards the magical world.

"Aunt Petunia, I thought you might have wanted to know that another person you know died in the battle against the Dark Lord. Voldemort also murdered your old neighbor Severus Snape."

Aunt Petunia jolted, as if a bit of her distant past hit home. She recovered quickly, curled up her lips in evident distaste and proceeded to comment that she never had liked that little freak of a boy.

"I never liked him either, and he hated me. Mostly because he hated my father, I guess. Snape never forgave the fact that my Mom picked Dad instead of him. But Severus loved Lily and he fought against Voldemort to his last day because he still loved her all these years after her death."

Aunt Petunia was silent for a while, and then spoke in a very quiet voice.

"He used to always spy on us. He said it was because he figured out that Lily was a witch. I figured there was more to it than that. It used to make me jealous when he would come by and tell Lily all of his stories of this supposed magical world. I never forgave him or Lily for some things that happened before they went off to that school."

Uncle Vernon looked shocked to hear Aunt Petunia talk so much about her sister or this Snape fellow, and Dudley looked interested in hearing more. But Harry's aunt seemed to have said all she was going to on the subject. Finally, Harry turned to leave and Ginny followed. His aunt and uncle still made no move to say goodbye. Finally, as they reached the door, Dudley spoke up.

"Harry, who is this girl you have with you? Is she your girlfriend?"

Harry blushed and was at a loss for words. Ginny, however, strolled up to Dudley.

"We've never been properly introduced, Dudley. My name is Ginny Weasley, Harry's girlfriend."

Harry had never felt more filled with pride than at that moment. The fact that Ginny was willing to publicly admit that she was Harry's girlfriend was worth more to him than any other compliment he could ever receive.

"Is there a chance I could get to see some of this magic stuff, like your school and things like that?"

"Well," said Harry. "I don't think that is usually allowed. I've never seen any non-magical people at Hogwarts."

Harry stopped to think for a minute. He had no idea if that was allowed by the International Confederation of Wizards Statute of Secrecy or not. Hermione's parents had been allowed in Diagon Alley, so maybe Muggles were allowed at some magical events. Harry turned to Ginny.

"Is any of that allowed?"

Ginny smiled at Harry.

"It is not usual, but I have heard of it before. For instance, I am certain when Hermione gets married some day she will want her parents at the ceremony."

"Does that mean we can come when you get married, Harry?" asked Dudley, whom Harry had never seen so interested in his magical world before.

Harry looked at Ginny. Ginny winked back at him.

"I would think if you would ask we might be able to make some arrangements."

Ginny turned back towards the door. Harry turned to follow when Ginny's words suddenly struck home. He stopped in his tracks, then looked up and stared at Ginny. She turned around, looked at Harry, and grinned.

"Some day, right?"

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**Review an' stuff**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Sorry about yesterday I had some work and completely spaced so you guys get two chapters today. And no I don't own Harry Potter or the story.**

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CHAPTER FOUR

GOBLINS

Once they had left the Dursley's, Harry and Ginny walked down the street to find a quiet spot from which to Apparate. While doing so they walked by old Mrs. Figg's house on Wisteria Walk. Mrs. Figg was a squib, a person from a wizarding family with no magical talent. Even without magical abilities, she had done her part in the ultimate victory over Voldemort by keeping an eye on Harry during his youth on Privet Drive.

"Harry Potter! How good to see you!" she exclaimed with a big smile as she gave Harry a hug. "Albus would have been so proud to have seen you eliminate the Dark Lord. He always said you were going to be a special wizard some day."

"It is good to see you too Mrs. Figg. I didn't know if you were still going to be here now that Voldemort is gone and I no longer call Privet Drive home."

"Well, this has become my home, and living here is as good as anywhere else, I imagine. Please stop by now and then, will you Harry? I can treat you to a much more pleasant visit than when you were a child."

After a short chat, Harry and Ginny bade goodbye to Mrs. Figg and Apparated to the Burrow. They arrived together in the Weasley's back yard, and still holding hands they walked inside the house. The members of the family were gathered around the table, and Harry was glad to see they were back in time for dinner. After all, Mrs. Weasley was an excellent cook.

"Ginny, Harry, quick wash up and have a seat. You're just in time. Harry, dear, I've never seen you so thin. Didn't you eat anything all year? You definitely need some feeding up."

Harry grinned. It seemed Mrs. Weasley was always trying to put a little meat on his bones. This time he conceded that she had a point. Harry had not eaten very much the last several months, and he had dropped several pounds. He and Ginny cleaned up before returning to the table, which was already crowded with Mr. Weasley, Ginny's brothers George, Percy and Bill, and Bill's wife Fleur. Harry sat down next to Percy and commented that he was going to be the only Weasley at the Ministry now that his Dad was going to teach at Hogwarts this summer. Before Percy could answer, Mrs. Weasley brought Harry a big plate of sausages and potatoes and then shared the big news of the evening.

"Bill just told us he joined the Ministry today," she recounted with obvious pride. "So tonight is something of a celebration. Thanks to his experience at Gringotts, Minister Shacklebolt has named Bill to be the new head of the Goblin Liaison Office."

"That's all right, Bill!" said Harry between mouthfuls of food.

Bill laughed.

"I'm glad you think so, because my first assignment involves you, Harry. For one thing, the Goblins are not at all happy with you, Ron and Hermione for breaking into Gringotts last week. I don't think they mind that you took the cup from the Lestrange vault as much as the fact that you took their dragon. Those things are not inexpensive to come by. In fact, there has been talk about confiscating the contents of your vault as compensation."

"The Ministry has been insisting that your vault be left untouched, and I think we can talk our way out of the burglary part since you had help from Griphook and since it helped get rid of Voldemort."

"However, they are not going to be as easy to placate about that dragon of theirs you guys stole. I don't suppose you know where it is, do you?"

"We left it out in the wild somewhere," said Harry. "I have no idea where it might be now."

"Well, that's not so surprising. I imagine our brother Charlie might get a call to come in from Romania to try to catch it if it is ever spotted. The Ministry won't like a dragon on the loose where it could be spotted or cause harm to the Muggles. They still haven't recovered from all of the mess that was caused where they were raising a few dragons up in Scotland at that Loch Ness place."

Mr. Weasley grimaced. "That was a disaster, that one. We still get Muggles coming up there searching for the 'monster'."

Bill continued. "The Goblins won't want to have that dragon back anyway. Once it has been in the wild, they'd never get it back down into the vaults. They'll probably want to start raising a new dragon from an egg, though it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't already have a younger dragon in reserve in case anything happened to the main one. Goblins are nothing if not prepared."

"But what the Goblins are really upset about is that the Sword of Gryffindor is missing from their collection. They want to know how young Neville Longbottom stole it from them to use on Voldemort's snake."

"He didn't steal anything," protested Harry. "He pulled it out of the sorting hat."

"I know that, I was there to see him do it. But the Goblins always think the worst of Wizards, often with good reason, I might add. The bottom line is, they want the sword back. Do you think you can convince Neville to give it to them? I am going to Hogwarts to see Neville tomorrow morning, then I'm off to Gringotts to talk with the Goblins. Would you be willing to come along?"

Harry was starting to feel like he was a roving goodwill ambassador, but he agreed to go anyway. It would give him something to do until Ron and Hermione came back, and he was looking forward to seeing Neville anyway. Besides, running around yesterday was an enjoyable experience. Harry turned to Ginny and commented that Neville would enjoy seeing them tomorrow.

"Not so fast young lady, I need you here tomorrow. We're packing things up for the trip to Hogwarts, and I am going to need some help. Your father and Percy are going into the Ministry, Fleur is heading back to Shell Cottage, George is going back to the store at Diagon Alley, Ron is still in Australia and Harry and Bill are going to Gringotts. I am going to need some help."

"But Mom, I've never had a chance to see Gringotts. This sounds like a really interesting day."

"I'm sorry, but I need you here."

"Mom, you're just trying to keep us apart, like you did to us last summer!"

And with that, Ginny left the table and stormed off to her room.

Mrs. Weasley was shocked that Ginny would speak to her in such a manner. After she composed herself, she sat down next to Harry and talked to him softly.

"Harry, I trust you to treat Ginny well. Please understand that I am not trying to keep the two of you apart. I just need to have at least one of my children around right now, and Ginny is the only one not otherwise occupied."

Harry looked into Mrs. Weasley's moist eyes and knew he could never turn down a request she made, given all the things she had done for Harry through the years.

"I'll talk to her, Mrs. Weasley."

Harry excused himself from the table and went to Ginny's room. He knocked once and then entered, to find Ginny laying on her bed, crying. He sat down beside her and stroked her hair. He had not been here since his birthday last summer. That provided Harry with two vivid memories. The first was of Ginny giving Harry the birthday present of his life, a kiss full of the greatest passion he had ever experienced. The second was of Ron breaking in on them, then scolding Harry for snogging his sister. He much preferred the first memory to the second one.

"I don't think your Mom meant to try to keep us apart before. She is just trying to get over her grief about Fred, and she needs to have family around. I don't think she has brought herself to believe yet that the fight is over, and her family is now safe. Tomorrow, you will be the only family she has available."

"I know, I know. I shouldn't have yelled at her. But it was a LONG year, Harry. I gave up a whole year so you could help the rest of the wizarding world and get rid of Voldemort. I don't want us to be apart any more. I'm tired of making sacrifices for others. I want to do what's best for me, for us. Is that so wrong?"

"No, but we might as well get used to it. We'll have the whole summer together, but then you'll have another year at Hogwarts while I'll be off doing whatever I'm going to do next in life. Besides, I want to make certain I stay on your Mom's good side."

Ginny gave a quick laugh at this, then she gave Harry a short kiss.

"I don't think you have to worry about that. You've been on Mom's good side since the first time she met you. I should be the one who has to worry about falling out of her favor."

Harry again thought how lucky he was to have Ginny interested in him. But he was also serious about trying to keep in Mrs. Weasley's good graces.

"C'mon. Let's go downstairs and spend a nice evening with your family."

Harry and Ginny returned to the kitchen table. The rest of the conversation at the table came to an abrupt halt and all eyes turned to Ginny. She went to Mrs. Weasley and stared at her for a moment. Mrs. Weasley stared back. Then Ginny broke down and wrapped her arms around her mother.

"I'd be happy to help you with the packing tomorrow, Mom."

Mrs. Weasley blinked some tears out of her eyes and hugged Ginny back. Then, just as quickly, she pulled away and returned to the kitchen.

"That sounds great, Ginny. You two are just in time for dessert. I have a pile of apple tarts here."

With that, the tension in the room was broken and the evening turned into a typically happy gathering of the Weasley family. Percy and Mr. Weasley related stories from their day at the Ministry, where everything was in turmoil as they attempted to fix the policies put in by Voldemort and the Death Eaters in the last year. Bill told about the misunderstandings he is required to patch up between various wizards and goblins and how hopeless the job seems at times. George talked about some new products he was thinking of coming out with, though Harry thought he was probably holding back some details from his parents. Mrs. Weasley listened to and commented on everything. Ginny tossed in the occasional opinion, while Harry just sat back and enjoyed the normalcy of it all. Eventually, the others discreetly retired to their rooms, leaving Ginny and Harry alone to talk and enjoy each other late into the night before eventually heading off to sleep themselves.

The next morning, after another hearty breakfast from Mrs. Weasley, Bill and Harry went to Hogwarts in order to meet with Neville Longbottom. It was a bright and sunny morning, which made for a pleasant stroll across the grounds. They stopped at the memorial, with Bill going straight over to Fred's grave, while Harry slowly walked by each and every one of the markers. Harry was amazed how fast his mood switched. He had been upbeat and happy when he had arrived, but now he felt sad and tired. This place would be a constant reminder for him, both of the events for which he was certain he would always be remembered and also of what they had cost in terms of lost friends and associates.

Bill and Harry then proceeded up to the castle where Neville was awaiting them. He greeted them warmly and led them inside to the Great Hall, which was now deserted as everyone else had gone home with their families for the break. Harry wondered why Neville was still at Hogwarts instead of being home with his grandmother.

"Professor Sprout asked me to take the internship to be the associate professor of Herbology. I've been getting an early start, and Professor Sprout taught me a bunch of new stuff yesterday. We're going to St. Mungo's tomorrow to talk with the healers. They are going to give us an idea what maladies we should be trying hardest to cure as well as giving us their thoughts on how we might try to develop those remedies."

Neville looked around as if to see if anyone was listening, then continued in a much quieter voice.

"I'm going to see if we can find a way to help Mom and Dad."

Neville's parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom, had been hospitalized at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries ever since they had been tortured into insanity by Voldemort's followers sixteen years ago. They had once been Aurors, a career Harry was currently considering for himself.

"So, Bill's owl said the two of you needed to see me today. What's up?"

"Well, Harry and I need to meet with the goblins to smooth over some problems related to Harry's break-in at Gringott's a few days ago."

The thought made Neville laugh.

"I bet that is going to be a fun meeting. The goblins can't be happy you proved Gringotts could be broken into. And I also bet they're not real happy you took their dragon either, right Harry?"

Harry just shook his head guiltily.

"That's two things they are not thrilled about," continued Bill. "But their main gripe is that Harry made a deal and gave the Sword of Gryffindor to a goblin, then it mysteriously appeared in your possession, Neville. They want it back."

"You gave the Sword of Gryffindor to the goblins, Harry?"

"Well, we needed help from a goblin named Griphook or we would have never been able to get into Bellatrix's vault. We had to get our hands on Hufflepuff's cup, which has holding one of the parts of Voldemort's soul. The only way to get Griphook's help was to promise him the sword. We didn't have a lot of choice."

"But I pulled the sword out of the Sorting Hat. How did it get there?"

"We have no idea, Neville."

"But it's Gryffindor's sword. Shouldn't it belong at Hogwarts?"

Bill jumped back in.

"That's what I tried to explain to Harry back when he was negotiating with Griphook before they went into Gringotts. Wizards believe that if we purchase something from goblins, it belongs to us and our heirs forever. However, goblins believe that an object always belongs to its maker, and that a wizard who purchases it is merely renting the object. They believe that on the purchaser's death the object should be returned to the goblins. This has been one of the main sticking points of wizard-goblin relations for years."

Neville considered this.

"What do you think, Harry?"

Harry had hoped to be able to stay out of this. On one hand, he thought Neville deserved to keep the sword as a reward for his bravery in killing Voldemort's snake Nagini. But Harry also felt that he'd promised the sword to Griphook to return to the goblins, and he always liked to keep his word.

"Well, I think it is your decision, Neville, since you have physical possession of the sword. However, it seems to me that we only need the sword in times of crisis, and no matter where it is, a true Gryffindor always seems to be able to pull it out of the Sorting Hat when it is needed. So, it can't hurt to give it back to the goblins, and it could do some good."

Neville thought for a moment and then nodded. He went to the Gryffindor tower to get the sword. A few minutes later he returned with it to the Great Hall and handed it to Harry.

"Here you go, Harry. You and Bill can give it back to the goblins."

Bill took the sword from Harry and inspected it briefly. He admired the gleaming silver sword, and the egg sized rubies in its handle. Then he handed it back to Neville.

"Actually, we'd like you to come along, Neville. The goblins will be more appreciative and respectful if the sword comes directly from the person currently in possession instead of from someone at the Ministry. You see, my job is not merely to make the goblins happy. It is also to make wizards look good in the goblins' eyes."

"Well, all right, but I need to clear a few things with Professor Sprout first."

"No problem. Harry and I will go have lunch at the Leaky Cauldron. You can meet us there."

While Neville took off for Professor Sprout's office, Bill and Harry strolled back onto the grounds towards Hogsmeade. Harry was half-tempted to suggest they try one of the secret passages that his old Marauder's Map showed leading from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade; just to be sure they were still there. As they passed by Hagrid's hut, they spotted the large gamekeeper of Hogwarts leaving his front door and heading towards the castle.

"All righ' Harry and Bill! Comin' to see meh?"

"Sorry Hagrid, just passing through," answered Harry. "I'll be back to see you next week, though."

"Just as well," responded Hagrid. "I got a lot o' work ter do trying to get the castle fixed up in less than two weeks. See yeh next week!"

Bill and Harry took a look back and thought of all the damage caused in the battle. That was indeed going to be a job trying to fix all of that. Harry noticed that Hagrid had his umbrella with him. Perhaps a little magic would make the job a bit easier.

They walked the rest of the way to Hogsmeade and then Apparated just outside the Leaky Cauldron pub in London. As soon as they walked in, they were greeted by the barman.

"Harry Potter! What a privilege to have you back! And good to see you too, Bill."

"How about two of your lunch specials and a couple of butterbeers for us Tom," commanded Bill. "We'll need a booth big enough for three since we have a friend coming later."

It was Harry's first time out in public since the battle at Hogwarts, and Harry was receiving even more attention than normal. Tom the barman made quite a fuss over Harry and Bill's lunches, and commented twice how good it was to see him again after the time he had spent as a lodger here four summers ago. Ernie Prang, the driver of the Knight Bus, was having lunch in another booth and had to come over and talk to Harry. So did Veronica Smethly, who said she normally was only a fan of Gilderoy Lockhart, but that she had cleared off a small portion of her wall of Lockhart photos to squeeze in a couple of Harry. Several other wizards Harry did not know stopped by the talk until Tom came over with their food and ordered everyone away while "Mr. Potter" ate his meal. Harry flushed red at all the attention, but Bill just wore a broad smile.

"Better get used to it, Harry. If you thought you were famous before, wait until you see how things are now."

The two finished their lunches and even a complimentary desert that Tom provided, and were just relaxing with their butterbeers when Neville came in. Tom tried to shoo him away, until Harry was able to make it known that Neville was the third member of their party. Tom was so embarrassed he brought another round of butterbeers. Bill invited Tom to join them, and they had an enjoyable early afternoon together.

The trio bid Tom farewell and went out the back. Bill touched the correct brick in the wall three times with his wand and the passage to Diagon Alley opened. It was a brighter and cheerier place than just earlier in the week when he, Ron, Hermione and Griphook had come through on their way to rob Gringotts, but it was still far from the happy place Harry remembered in the past. Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop was still boarded up, as were several other businesses. However, many other stores were reopening, giving the impression that better times were ahead for Diagon Alley.

The three walked up to the snowy white building that housed the wizarding bank known as Gringotts. A goblin in a red and gold outfit held open the door, then with a look of surprise signaled something to those inside. There were a pair of goblins waiting inside the door, one of them pointing at Harry and bellowing, "It's Potter! Harry Potter!"

Alarms started sounding throughout the bank. A voice was screaming 'Security Lockdown!' over and over. Doors were closing throughout Gringotts, and goblins scurried out of site. Bill grabbed Harry and Neville and drug them back out the doors and into the street.

"What the heck is going on!" screamed Neville.

Several goblins came through the door and stood in front of them, as if on guard duty. The sounds of large locks clicking into place were readily audible. It was obvious the goblins of Gringotts were not interested in letting Harry Potter in.

Bill left Harry and Neville behind and walked up to talk to the goblins. After a few minutes, another goblin came out and talked with Bill for a while. Several times, both Bill and the goblin turned to look at Harry, pointing at him several times. Finally, Bill left the goblin and returned to Harry and Neville.

"Well, I guess that was a mistake. Harry's presence triggered a full security lockdown. I have been invited inside to talk for a bit, once they realized I was the new head of the Goblin Liaison office. Why don't you two go over to George's store and talk to him for awhile? I'll come back and get you when everything is settled down."

Harry and Neville were happy to get away, especially with the crowd that was starting to gather. The walked until they came upon the brightly lit Weasley's Wizard Wheezes shop. It was Neville's first visit to the Weasley store, and he was more than impressed. He kept noting items that the twins had been developing while they were at school at Hogwarts. Eventually, George Weasley and Lee Jordan came out of the back room.

"Lee!" shouted Harry. "What are you doing here?"

George answered.

"I can't run this place all by myself. With Fred's death I needed to add someone on staff who understands the way Fred and I operated. Lee was really the only choice. At least, if you approve, Harry. After all, you are still one-third owner of this place."

"What? I don't want to own any of this! I told you those 1,000 galleons were a gift."

"Fred and I always thought you'd say that. So we've been depositing your third of the profits into your vault at Gringotts. Your investment in us has paid off with interest already. Just to warn you, profits might be down a bit next year, if we open that branch of the business in Hogsmeade like Fred and I had planned."

"Stop doing that! I don't need any gold. You're doing all the work, so you should keep all the profit."

"If you won't take your share, I'm just going to give it to Ginny. That way I know you'll get it eventually."

Harry was genuinely confused by that statement and said so to George.

"Look," continued George, "I've known Ginny for years, long enough to know that if she wants something, she is going to fight until she gets it. For some odd reason, she's decided that she wants you. She did years ago, really. It would take a great effort to stop her, but it looks to me like you're not putting up much of a fight, mate."

Lee and Neville were roaring with laughter. Finally Harry couldn't help himself and he also began chuckling.

"No, I'm not, am I? Frankly, I can't think of a good reason to fight her. Voldemort was tough, but I'm not crazy enough to take on Ginny."

All four had a good laugh. George gave Neville the full tour while Harry talked to Lee.

"So, are you going to make the joke business your career, Lee?"

"Not totally. As part of the deal to get me to work here, George promised to provide some start-up gold for my own wireless radio station. I think there are some huge opportunities being missed. For instance, you know how people love Quidditch, and they also remain loyal to their old house at Hogwarts? Well, I figure broadcasts of the Hogwarts Quidditch matches would be a big hit."

George came up at that moment.

"Great idea Lee has, huh? We're going to Hogsmeade next week to see about buying Zonko's place. He's been talking about retiring for years. When we do, we're going to head over to Hogwarts and corner McGonagall about getting exclusive broadcast rights. We figure we can pay with some new racing brooms to help keep the teams on an even footing. No more trying to buy wins with superior equipment like the Slytherins did the other year."

Harry suddenly had an idea.

"George, instead of paying me any more shares of your profits, why don't you use that gold to invest in Lee's wireless radio station instead."

"That is a splendid idea Harry. You'll soon be a real business tycoon, being part owner of all these hot new enterprises."

Shortly thereafter, Bill arrived to gather Harry and Neville. They made the return trip to Gringotts, only having to stop three times for people to greet Harry, including once where they could not get away until Harry agreed to give his autograph to both of the Zeller sisters, Violet and Marigold.

As Bill led them into Gringotts, they were met at the door by Griphook and Bogrod, two of the goblins who worked there. Griphook eyed the sword in Neville's hands with greedy eyes as the group was led into a plush conference room. Bogrod wasted no time and came right to business.

"Harry Potter, we are not pleased with your recent break-in here at Gringotts. Standard procedure would be to forbid you access to your vault while we confiscated the amount of gold needed to repair the damages, both the physical damage to the building and the damage to our reputation as a place safe from such attempts at burglary. However, Mr. Weasley here has stated quite forcefully how unacceptable this would be to the Ministry. Griphook also assures us that you are a different kind of wizard, that you were not out for profit and that you only took one item. Can you assure us, Harry Potter, that this item you took was used to help bring about the downfall of Voldemort?"

"Yes, we just needed Helga Hufflepuff's cup from the Lestrange vault. Voldemort had placed a portion of his soul in that cup. It had to be destroyed in order to be able to kill Voldemort for good."

Bogrod and Griphook exchanged a look before Bogrod continued.

"We don't pretend to know everything about Wizards or their magic. We can understand why you did not bring this story to us, as we would have never believed you anyway. However, we are prepared to forgive these transgressions, under one condition. You promised Griphook the Sword of Gryffindor in return for his assistance. We are dismayed to find that the sword was somehow taken from us and is now in the possession of Mr. Longbottom."

"But, I just pulled it out of the Hogwarts' Sorting Hat!" protested Neville. "I didn't steal anything …"

Harry put his hands on Neville's shoulders to calm him down before he responded.

"I did indeed agree to give the sword to Griphook in return for his help with the break-in. I lived up to that bargain and plan to continue to do so. I do not know how you lost possession of the sword so that it could end up with Neville. However, since Neville afterwards came to be in possession of the sword, the final decision is up to him."

Neville brought the sword up into his hands to give it a last look. Then he slowly held it out towards Griphook.

Griphook looked surprised. His hands moved to grab the sword, while his eyes looked suspiciously around the room. He took the sword suddenly, as if expecting Neville to attempt to grab it back from him.

The five of them looked at each other briefly until Bogrod broke the silence.

"Please forgive Griphook. Our experiences with the wizarding world had not led us to believe that you would voluntarily turn over the sword. It seems Griphook was correct about you. You are a different kind of wizard, Harry Potter. We shall henceforth consider both Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom to be valued and preferred customers."

With that the meeting broke up and Bill returned to the Ministry. Before he left, Harry asked to visit his vault. He was curious since he had no idea how much had been added to his account from his inheritance after his godfather Sirius' death, nor did he know how much had been added by his portion of the profits from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Neville had never seen a Gringotts vault before, so he asked to tag along.

Bogrod led them through the vast marble hall and through a door to a narrow stone passageway lit by torches. A small cart rolled up and Bogrod, Harry and Neville got in. The cart hurtled along its tracks like a wild roller coaster ride through a maze of twisting passages. Harry had experienced this before, but Neville went pale and looked like he was very much regretting his lunch. The cart at last stopped beside a small door in a passage wall that Harry recognized as his vault. Bogrod led them out of the cart and unlocked the door.

"You will notice there has been quite an increase in the last two years."

Neville's jaw dropped so far Harry was afraid it would detach from the rest of his face.

"I've never seen so much gold, silver and bronze in my life!"

Harry estimated his vault had at least ten times more gold in it than the last time he had stopped in. It made him feel guilty. He was always living for free off the Weasleys when he had so much more gold in his vault. He decided it was time to spread some around. He filled a large bag full of coins to take with him, then looked at Neville who was still just staring at the piles of currency. He tried to make it sound like an off the cuff conversation.

"Neville, when you are working with Professor Sprout, do you have all the herbs and materials you need?"

"Most of the time we do. Hogwarts has a decent budget for the Herbology classes. Often when we want to experiment with something, Professor Sprout says we will have to grow it ourselves and wait until it is harvested to do our tests. It tends to slow things down, but we'll get there in the end."

Harry took another bag and filled it with approximately 200 gold galleons. He threw the bag to Neville, who looked at him in surprise.

"You and Professor Sprout should go out and buy what you need to keep your work moving. Maybe we can find something to help your parents. Maybe even Gilderoy Lockhart."

Even though Harry felt that Lockhart had gotten what he deserved, Harry still felt guilty that he was permanently hospitalized following their excursion into the Chamber of Secrets back in Harry's second year.

Neville protested, but Harry insisted.

"Look, Neville. I haven't done anything to earn that money. I was given some by my parents, then some more by Sirius, and now the Weasleys' store is sending me more. It seems like people have been giving me stuff all my life. I feel that it is time I start doing a little giving back."

When they had finished and Harry's bag was fairly bulging with gold, Bogrod took Harry and Neville back to the lobby and bid them farewell. Neville was anxious to get back to work at Hogwarts, but was stopped when Griphook came up to him with what appeared to be the Sword of Gryffindor. Griphook presented it to Neville.

"This is the copy of the Sword of Gryffindor that was stored here in the Lestrange vault. It turns out this had been illegally taken from Hogwarts, so it was confiscated. We felt you should have it as a token of our appreciation for returning the genuine item."

Neville was stunned beyond words. He instead merely nodded his thanks to Griphook. After thanking Harry for an interesting day, he said goodbye and headed back to Hogsmeade. Harry stopped and looked back at Gringotts before heading for the Leaky Cauldron. It had been a good day and would soon be better still. He was heading back to the Burrow, and back to Ginny. Hopefully, Ron and Hermione would also soon be back.

**Review an' stuff.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Don't own the franchise.**

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE

BACK TO HOGWARTS

The next couple of days were very pleasant for Harry. He and Ginny would spend the day helping Mrs. Weasley prepare for the move to Hogwarts. At night, Mr. Weasley and Percy came home from the Ministry while George and Lee Jordan would stop in after they closed the store. A fabulous meal by Mrs. Weasley would be followed by an evening full of fun and happiness the like of which Harry could never have imagined with the Dursleys on Privet Drive. After George and Lee went back home and everyone else went to bed for the night, Harry and Ginny would stay up for an extra hour or two to spend some time alone. The days were pleasant, satisfying, and quiet. Harry was happier and at greater peace with the world than he had ever thought was possible.

On the fourth night the quiet was ended, as there was a loud CRACK in the back yard. Ron and Hermione had returned from Australia. Ron charged into the house ahead of Hermione, fired up about their trip. He spotted Harry and immediately spoke to him.

"Traveling is so choice, Harry! Remember that Rita Skeeter book about Dumbledore where she mentioned he had planned to do a trip around the world after graduation? We have to go on one of those!"

Hermione and Ron proceeded to tell the rest of the Weasley household all about their trip to Australia. Once they arrived there, they had to find Hermione's parents.

"We knew they would be going by the names of Wendell and Monica Williams, but we weren't sure exactly where we'd find them after almost a year. So we started off in the city of Canberra. Guess where the first place was that we went to in Australia? Hermione took us to a library!"

"I introduced Ron to telephone directories, and computers. He was more than a little lacking in using such Muggle tools."

Mr. Weasley perked up considerably at the mention of these Muggle devices and wanted to hear more details. Hermione continued.

"After about two hours of researching, we found two dentists with those names living in Bacchus Marsh, just outside of Melbourne. We went there and, sure enough, they were my parents. They were quite confused at first when I restored their memories, then they became more than a little upset. Fortunately they are rather patient people, and they calmed down after I explained for awhile. Once they understood the high points of what happened, we all sat down and spent an entire day going over all the details."

"Her parents didn't want to believe us at first. It was a good thing Hermione had that book full of notes she took all last year. Did you know she was keeping a diary, Harry?"

Harry had to admit that he had not noticed Hermione taking notes, at which point Ginny was quick to sarcastically point out how surprising it was that Harry and Ron had not noticed something that a girl was doing.

As laughter filled the room, Harry could not help thinking how good it was to have Ron and Hermione back. Harry also noted how Ginny and Hermione seemed to share as close of a friendship as he did with Ron. It was good to know that he was not going to have to choose between his girlfriend and at least one of his best friends.

Ginny then asked if Hermione's parents had come back to England. Surprisingly, it was Ron who was quick to answer.

"That was the best part of the entire trip. Mrs. Granger told us that it actually was their dream to move to Australia, but they'd never told Hermione. Now that Hermione is of age, and they are in Australia anyway, they think they might as well stay there. Turns out Hermione did them a favor without even realizing it."

Hermione blushed as the house was once again full of laughter. The rest of the night was spent with Ron and Hermione telling more stories of their trip, as well as Harry and Ginny filling in Ron and Hermione on their trip to see the Prime Minister and the Dursleys, though they left out the more personal details. Harry also described his trip to Gringotts with Neville and Bill.

Eventually the rest of the Weasley family retired to their rooms. Hermione and Ginny moved to a corner for a private chat, leaving Ron and Harry alone.

"You should have seen Hermione on the trip. She was always writing something in a book whenever we had any free time. Do you have any idea what she'd be writing?" asked Ron. "Then on the way back we stopped at Luna's and Hermione gave her some papers, but she wouldn't tell me what they were."

Harry didn't know what Hermione was writing either, but he had to admit Ginny was right earlier. He rarely seemed to notice what the females around him were doing. And when he did notice, he almost never understood what they were doing, or why.

There was still one day remaining until the big move back to Hogwarts. Since most of the work was done, it was a day off for everyone. The broomsticks came out and Harry and Hermione took on Ron and Ginny in some two-on-two Quidditch. It was not a favorite activity of Hermione's, but Ron, Ginny and Harry reveled in their first chance to ride their brooms in almost a year. Ginny told the others about how all the Quidditch teams except for the Slytherins' had been shut down during the previous year. Fortunately for Ginny, she still had next year's Quidditch season to look forward to. There was even a good chance she would be the Gryffindor captain. But for Ron and Harry, it seemed likely that their opportunities to soar above the Quidditch pitch were over. They had given up their last Quidditch season in order to track down Voldemort's horcruxes. As seemed to often happen, Harry felt guilty with this extra reminder of what his friends had sacrificed to help him in his quest.

The next morning a Ministry car arrived to take Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, along with Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione to Hogwarts. Percy was staying behind to look after the Burrow, while the other six were busy cramming all their bags in the vehicle. Fortunately, the inside of the car had been magically expanded or else they would have had no chance of fitting in all their luggage, much less the six passengers.

After a long afternoon's drive, the car pulled into Hogsmeade. As they drove through the village, it was impossible not to notice a huge, bright, flashing sign on Zonko's joke shop.

Under New Ownership

Future Site Of

Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

Hogsmeade Branch

"Looks like George beat us here," laughed Harry.

Mrs. Weasley was having a hard time forming words.

"You … you … knew…"

"Yeah, George told Neville and me that he was going to try to buy Zonko's. He sure doesn't waste any time. I wonder if he and Lee are still here? They were going to try to talk McGonagall into letting Lee broadcast the Hogwarts' Quidditch matches on the new wireless radio station Lee is starting."

"I don't know if that boy is going to embarrass me to death, become the richest wizard in England, or both," sighed Mrs. Weasley.

"As long as he shares with his favorite younger brother, I hope he does that richest wizard thing."

Ron's joke lightened the mood as the car continued through Hogsmeade and onto the Hogwarts' grounds. The group piled out of the Ministry vehicle with their usual level of disorder, until Mrs. Weasley got everyone calmed down and organized while Mr. Weasley used a _Locomotor-Trunks_ spell to get the luggage out of the car and moving towards the castle.

As the group approached the entrance, they came upon George, Lee Jordan and Professor McGonagall walking in the opposite direction.

"Molly, Arthur, good to have you here early. I have just been talking with your son and Mr. Jordan here. They are quite the negotiators. They brought in a very timely offer. Hagrid had just informed me yesterday that most of the school brooms used in Madam Hooch's flying classes had been destroyed during the battle. We don't have the funds available to replace them all, much less upgrade them."

Mrs. Weasley looked quite confused again, but Harry was quick to congratulate Lee.

"So, you're going to be broadcasting the Quidditch games next year?"

"Yeah, the Headmistress talked us out of a dozen Firebolt brooms. She's a pretty tough negotiator herself."

"A dozen Firebolts?" cried Mrs. Weasley. "How are you ever going to afford that?"

George walked over and put an arm around his mother's shoulders.

"Mom, don't worry! It is just a cost of doing business in the growing Weasley financial enterprises."

Meanwhile, Lee had taken Harry slightly aside and was whispering to him.

"Actually, Harry, we need your help to make the deal work. We promised McGonagall the dozen Firebolts plus another one every time we broadcast a match. We also cut a deal with the Firebolt Company. They will let us have the brooms at a much reduced price. But in return, we need to mention that the Firebolt is 'the preferred broom of Harry Potter'. Would that be alright with you?"

Harry would have been quite annoyed with the thought of being used for publicity sake in the past, but he was slowly getting used to his fame. Besides, the cause was good and it helped out his friends. And then Harry had an idea.

"Why not? But I have a favor to ask of you in return. Ron, Hermione and I do not have any books for our upcoming summer session. We need all the books for our seventh year classes. Can you get them for us in Diagon Alley and send them back here? Tell George to take it out of my account."

"Sure thing, Harry. We'd be glad to help. I'll hit up McGonagall and ask her for your book lists on the way out."

Lee signaled to George that Harry was on board and they headed outside with Professor McGonagall.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny took their trunks and headed for the Gryffindor tower. They were stopped by the portrait of the Fat Lady. Unlike the days immediately after the battle, she was again insisting on hearing the password to let them through.

Ginny tried the old password from before Easter when she had last been at school.

"Sorry, I need the new password to let you in."

"But none of us know the new password," pleaded Hermione. "You know we are all Gryffindors, can't you just give us the new password?"

"Oh, dear no! Security has been restored for the summer session. I can't let you in without the password. There will be no exceptions."

Just as Ron was beginning to threaten physical violence against the Fat Lady, Neville came by.

"I thought you might have some trouble here. The new password is 'Viriliter age'. It's Latin for 'Act courageously'. I'm the only one here, but she makes me say it every time."

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?"

With that the Fat Lady opened up and let them into the Gryffindor common room. Neville spent the evening telling them about his work with Professor Sprout during the last week and how busy he was going to be during the summer session making up his missed classes as well as assisting with the Herbology lessons.

The next morning there was just a small crew at breakfast. Mrs. Weasley was checking out her spot at the staff table at the front along with a few other professors, while the five Gryffindor friends shared their morning meal at their house table. Mr. Weasley, however, was notably absent.

"Mom said Dad had an early meeting with Hagrid," explained Ginny. "Dad wanted Hagrid to take him out into the forest, just to see if it is the same as he remembers it from when he was a student. She didn't seem to know what in particular he was looking for, however."

Just them, the post owls came in. One arrived for each of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny. Harry noted with surprise that his envelope was from Hogwarts, which seemed strange to him since he was already there. He slit open the envelope that was addressed to him and read:

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Please note that the special summer session will begin on May the fifteenth. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock._

_A list of books needed for your seventh year classes is enclosed._

_Professor F. Flitwick_

_Deputy Headmaster_

The other four had similar letters. Hermione looked struck with fear.

"Oh, my! We have to go to Diagon Alley. I don't have any books. How could I have been so forgetful?"

Ron was less concerned. "I was hoping they'd forget, but I guess we will have to go to Diagon Alley now. Ginny, how many books do you need?"

"Well," said Ginny, looking slightly embarrassed, "I was here at the start of the year. I already have all my books."

Neville confirmed he also had all the books he needed. Hermione was now in near panic mode, and was just ready to go running to Mrs. Weasley when Harry stopped her.

"I took care of the books yesterday. Lee Jordan is going to get them for us. It is part of a deal I made with him regarding the Quidditch matches."

Hermione calmed down a little, then two other owls arrived and dropped off packages for her. The first was _The Daily Prophet._ Hermione gave it a quick glance and then opened her second package. It was a copy of _The Quibbler_. A large picture of Harry graced the cover. The headline read:

**The Real Story Behind**

**The Quest for Voldemort's Horcruxes**

Hermione Granger, companion of Harry Potter, provides a preview of her upcoming book, _The Quest for Voldemort's Horcruxes_. Granger recounts the months spent with Harry Potter and Ron Weasley as they searched for and one at a time eliminated the individual pieces of Lord Voldemort's soul leading up to the recent dramatic confrontation at Hogwarts. See page 5 for details.

Harry stared at _The Quibbler_ and at Hermione while she turned slightly red. Ron was also surprised, though Ginny just looked bemused.

"Well, we were saying the other day that we needed a way to get the story told to everyone. So I wrote a brief version to put in _The Quibbler_ right away, while I finish up writing a book with all the details. Minster Shacklebolt approved it when he was here. He said everyone should know what is going on these days, unlike in the past when the Ministry kept everything hushed up. Kingsley got in touch with the book publishers and arranged for a nice little book deal."

"Now I know what you were writing every free moment you had on our trip to Australia," cried Ron. "I still can't believe you wrote an entire book that fast."

"I didn't write the entire book yet. The piece in _The Quibbler_ is just something of an outline of the highlights. I wrote that first as a foundation for writing the full story. I'm still only about one-third done with the complete book. And I'm only that far because of all the notes I took last year."

Ron suddenly seemed to have remembered one part of the conversation he had originally missed.

"Did you say you had a book deal?" he enquired. "How much gold are you getting?"

Hermione immediately became very vague.

"Enough that I can pay my own way and I won't have to eat for free off your parents every time I visit anymore. Also, I won't have to let Harry buy my books for this session like he is planning."

"Too late," interjected Harry. "That is already arranged. You can pay for our first Hogsmeade trip."

Ron seemed insulted by the exchange between Harry and Hermione.

"Wait a minute! I'm not going to let you guys pay for all my stuff. I didn't do anything to earn that."

"Sure you did," explained Hermione. "A lot of Harry's money is a result of him winning the tri-wizard tournament. You did all you could to help out Harry with that. And my book money comes because of all the work the three of us did together instead of going to school this last year. Harry and I are not going to let you go unrewarded, no matter what you say."

Ron started to protest, then he thought better of it.

"Yeah, I guess I did help, didn't I? Maybe I will let you buy me a few books and butterbeers."

Ginny tussled Ron's hair, to the general amusement of all. Meanwhile, Neville excused himself to go continue his work with Professor Sprout. The others had nothing to do, since classes did not start for several days and the Hogwarts Express with the other students wasn't scheduled to arrive until the day before that. They decided to visit Hagrid in the afternoon. Until then, Hermione took off for the library to work on writing her book, while Harry, Ron and Ginny decided to spend their morning taking the first of the new Firebolt brooms out for a test ride on the Quidditch field.

The foursome gathered back together in time for a late lunch before heading towards Hagrid's hut. On the way there, Hermione noticed there was not any smoke coming from Hagrid's chimney.

"I hope Hagrid is home. Did he and Mr. Weasley ever come back from the forest this morning?"

Just then a long, loud note sounded and lights were visible coming from the forest. It was Mr. Weasley's old enchanted Ford Anglia, the car Ron and Harry had wrecked at Hogwarts their second year. It had gone feral and been roaming the woods ever since. The car thundered out of the forest, lights glaring, horns screeching, with a screaming Mr. Weasley riding on the hood as Hagrid ran along behind. The car stopped suddenly and Mr. Weasley was thrown forward onto the ground while the car reversed direction and went back into the forest. Ron and Ginny sprinted ahead to see if their father was hurt. They found him laughing as he lay dirty and bruised on the ground.

"I thought we had it that time, Hagrid! What a ride that was! Should we try it again?"

"I think yeh ought to give it up fer today, Arthur. Yeh can try again tomorrow. I got work to do in the castle."

"Dad!" yelled Ginny. "What have you been doing?"

Mr. Weasley flashed a guilty look and quickly glanced around to see who had spotted him. "Hagrid and I went into the forest to find my old car. You know, the one that Ron and Harry crashed here five years ago. It took several hours, but we eventually found it. The first time I tried to get in, it immediately threw me about twenty feet and drove off. We found it again about half an hour later, and that time I held on about a minute before it threw me off. This third and last time, I lasted several minutes."

"But why were you trying to hold on to the hood, Mr. Weasley?" asked Harry.

"I read that the Muggles sometimes ride on animals called 'horses'. When horses go wild, they try to throw off anyone who tries to ride them. If the rider can hang on long enough, the horse will stop trying to throw off the rider and from then on will let other Muggles ride it. I figure the car is the same way. If I can hold on long enough, my old Ford Anglia will stop trying to throw me off and let me drive it again. I am thinking the car would be a great thing to demonstrate in my Muggle Studies classes."

Mr. Weasley brushed the worst of the dirt off his robes and looked back towards the forest.

"I guess I'll just have to try again tomorrow. Oh, I'd appreciate it if you did not mention this to Molly. She never did approve of me having that car."

As Mr. Weasley left, Hagrid walked up to the foursome, a large tool bag draped across his shoulders.

"I thin' Arthur is goin' to like it here. Yeh'd almost thin' he was just a happy kid again. Well, I have to git up to the castle. Lots o' work still has to be done yet, to git this place ship shape by the time classes git goin'."

"What about your class, Hagrid?" asked Hermione. "Are you all ready for Care of Magical Creatures class?"

"Ah, well, that. Since Perfessor Grubbly-Plank had to take meh place last year, I thought she ought ter finish up. 'Sides, though teachin' was a lot o' fun, meh job as GameKeeper here at Hogwarts keeps me plenty busy enough. Which reminds me, McGonagall asked that I clean that dead basilisk and anything else out of the Chamber o' Secrets. Can you lot show me how to git in?"

They all walked together into the castle and to the out of order girls' restroom where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was located. Harry was hoping it would be empty, but they were immediately met by Moaning Myrtle, the ghost of a student who had been killed by the basilisk the first time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened fifty years before.

"Look at all these visitors! You're the first people to see me all year. People always say they are going to visit but they never do," sobbed Myrtle.

Hagrid was not happy to have Myrtle about.

"Blimey, 'arry, I feel awkward enough being in the ladies room, but I don't know if I can take a girl ghost blatherin' around all the time."

"Well, it's my bathroom. I'll do whatever I like in here, and I don't care about what some boys think."

Hagrid was looking flustered, while Ron was facing away to try to keep from laughing aloud. Hermione looked like she was going to slug him if he did. Harry took over.

"Ron, Hermione and I have not been here all year, and Ginny has not been here recently, either. You really need to visit us sometime, like stopping in the Great Hall during evening meal."

"Well, I don't get out much, you know."

"I know, but Ron and I aren't really supposed to be in the girls' restroom. Right now, we have to show Hagrid how to get into the Chamber of Secrets. Want to join us?"

Myrtle declined and left through the back wall. They showed Hagrid the sink with the tiny snake etched into the side of the tap and explained how he had to say 'open up' in Parseltongue to get the passage to open up. Harry tried to demonstrate, but no matter how hard he tried, the words always came out in English. Hermione thought she knew why.

"You must not be able to speak Parseltongue anymore, Harry. I would imagine that you lost that ability when that part of Voldemort's soul which was attached to you was destroyed."

"So what do we do instead?"

"Hermione," asked Hagrid, "didn't that article of yers in _The Quibbler_ say that Ron here knew how ter git in?"

Ron walked up and spoke a bunch of hissing sounds. It took three tries, but then the tap glowed with a brilliant white light and began to spin. The sink then sank out of sight, leaving a large pipe exposed, a pipe wide enough for them to slide into.

"I didn't know yeh was a Parseltongue, Ron."

"I'm not. For some reason I just remember the sounds Harry made to get us in five years ago. I guess I was so worried about trying to save Ginny that it always stuck with me."

"Well, guess we'd best be on with it. You lot want to show meh where that big basilisk is?"

Ron jumped in the pipe first, followed by Hagrid and the others. They rushed down the steep, slimy pipe until it leveled out and they shot out the end with a wet thud. Once they had recovered from the ride and Hermione had cleaned the mud and slime off their robes, they took off walking down the passageway. Hagrid had to stop and marvel at a twenty foot long snake skin lying on the floor. Ginny was very quiet, leaning tightly against Harry. It was obvious the place brought back bad memories for her.

They walked down the corridors until they came to a solid wall on which two entwined serpents were carved, each with glinting emeralds for eyes. Ron approached and again made his hissing sounds. At this, the wall cracked open and the two halves slid smoothly out of sight, revealing the Chamber of Secrets.

The room contained towering stone pillars adorned with carvings of more snakes. Just past the last pair of pillars was a huge statue of a wizard with a beard flowing down almost to his toes, old Salazar Slytherin himself. Harry shivered as he remembered the basilisk coming out of the statue's mouth five years ago. But the part of the chamber that most stood out was the huge basilisk which had been lying dead on the floor for the last five years.

While Hagrid went looking around to make sure there were no more secrets hidden in the chamber, Harry told the story in detail of five years ago. He started with how the memory of Tom Riddle was working its way out of the diary, fueled, as they knew now but did not know then, by a piece of Voldemort's soul that he had left in the book. He told how Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, had blinded the great basilisk, and how the Sword of Gryffindor had come out of the sorting hat, which Harry used to slay the mighty serpent. Finally, he mentioned how the basilisk managed to sink one poisonous fang into Harry's arm, bit thankfully Fawkes had used his tears to cure the poisonous wound. Harry had unknowingly destroyed that first portion of Voldemort's soul by stabbing the diary with one of the basilisk fangs. In a way, that was the first great act in the adventure on which Ron, Hermione and Harry had spent the last year. The first small step had been taken to eliminating Lord Voldemort.

Meanwhile, Hagrid came back out of one of the side passages.

"Looks like this dead snake is all there is down here. Yeh know, if we could build a better entrance ter this place, it could be right useful. What a great place this would be to raise a dragon!"

"Hagrid!" yelled all four students simultaneously.

"Well, twas just a thought."

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**Review and stuff**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Thanks for all the attention it's really motivating me to post these regular updates! Don't own Harry Potter or the story**

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CHAPTER SIX

TRYOUTS

The rest of their off time passed quickly. Lee Jordan came through with their books, which Hermione immediately started to read. As she was quick to point out, she was almost a year behind most of their classmates. Since Ginny had been at school until Easter break, she didn't feel the need to start cramming just yet. Harry and Ron decided, as usual, to just wing it once classes started.

The foursome tended to spend their days on the grounds, positioned so that they could see the forest. Their planning paid off, when one late morning they spotted Mr. Weasley coming out of the forest, sitting on the hood of the car as it slowly rolled out onto the grounds. Mr. Weasley was waiving wildly at them.

"Look! I did it! The car is no longer wild!"

At that moment, the car suddenly accelerated and lurched to the left. Mr. Weasley went flying off the hood, landing face first into Hagrid's pumpkin patch. The car continued onward, turning around and heading back into the forest. They were all laughing uproariously as Mr. Weasley stood up and yelled.

"I'm fine! No troubles!"

Things started to return to normal with the arrival of the rest of the students on the Hogwarts Express. There were even a few students who needed to be sorted. Muggle-borns and many of the half-blood students hadn't been allowed into Hogwarts the past year, and a few would be first years got the word that they had a chance to make up for their missed initial year during this special summer session.

Professor Flitwick led the small batch of new first years into position just in front of the teachers' table, where the usual four legged stool was located as well as the even worse than normal looking sorting hat. As was usual (except to the shocked looking first year students) the hat twitched, then a rip near the brim opened like a mouth and the hat began to sing:

_"What am I doing here_

_As the summer has yet to start?_

_I do not usually do my work,_

_'Til leaves from trees do part._

_Our Hogwarts has been assaulted_

_From without and from within,_

_The houses did not stick together_

_And that was quite a sin._

_The Gryffindors, they led the way_

_They were so brave at heart._

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Helped the evil to depart._

_Ravenclaws, they joined the fight_

_They were so wise and true._

_They used their wit and learning_

_To show what they could do._

_The Hufflepuffs, the just and loyal;_

_They did their part too._

_They knew which side was in the right _

_And fought with the other two._

_But Slytherins, those cunning folk,_

_Some joined with the dark evil._

_They turned against the other houses_

_Thus causing much upheaval._

_So far it has been a year_

_Consisting of much strife._

_The dark forces were defeated_

_At the cost of much dear life._

_So as I sort you once again_

_Since it is my job to do;_

_I remind you to regard each other_

_As all good friends should do._

_It now is time to heal the wounds_

_And be united for all to see._

_Then try me on and I will tell_

_Just where you ought to be._

The students all cheered as the hat finished its song. It tilted itself towards each of the four house tables before becoming motionless again.

Professor Flitwick stepped forward with a short roll of parchment from which he read the names of the new students, who then sat on the stool and placed the hat on their heads.

"Patricia Brocklehorst!"

"RAVENCLAW!" screamed the hat.

"Grover Duncan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

And so it went until four new Ravenclaws, three new Hufflepuffs and two more Gryffindors joined their respective house tables. There were no new Slytherins, though Neville was quick to mention that there had been more new Slytherins than any other house in the fall.

In fact, Harry noticed that the Slytherin table was about half empty. Almost all of the older Slytherins were absent. Some, like Vincent Crabbe, had died fighting with the Death Eaters in the recent battle. Others, like Gregory Goyle and Draco Malfoy, were still under Ministry arrest for also fighting with the Death Eaters. A third group, including Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bulstrode, had simply not returned, as they were withdrawn from the school by their families. The Slytherins who remained all seemed to be much more reserved and quiet than they had been in the past.

Harry's attention was returned to the front table as Professor McGonagall rose and began to speak.

"Before the feast begins, I would just like to say a few words, though mine will neither be as short nor as eloquent as Professor Dumbledore's used to be."

Short bits of laughter rippled across the hall, especially amongst the older students. When Professor Dumbledore had been the headmaster, he had been famous for keeping his remarks down to a few, non-sensical words, such as 'Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment and Tweak', thus not delaying the enjoyment of the feast.

"Schedules will be given out tomorrow morning. The majority of you have just a few weeks' work to complete, along with a year's worth of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies classes. Those of you who spent the last portion of the term in the Room of Requirement have more work to do, while those who missed the entire year have a lot more class time to make up. Fifth year students will be able to take their O.W.L. exams and seventh years their N.E.W.T.s at the end of the session. Apparition classes and tests will also be available this term. First years are reminded that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students and our caretaker, Mr. Filch, asked me to remind you that all products of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes are strictly forbidden."

"Well, with that out of the way, let's all enjoy our feast tonight and get cracking first thing in the morning."

At that point, their plates all filled with food. Potatoes, roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, peas and carrots arrived in abundance. Once the main course was finished, deserts of all types appeared. Ice cream, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and rice pudding all tempted Harry, but years at Hogwarts had taught him there was no need to eat it all at once. A slice of apple pie and a chocolate éclair topped off the feast nicely. Harry looked at Ron, who saluted him with a treacle tart.

"Sure beats eating toadstools while camping out, huh?"

Hermione pretended to look offended at Ron's jibe at her attempts at cooking the past year, while Harry silently agreed with him. It was so good to be eating well again, as opposed to the last year when they often did not know where their next meal would come from, nor of what it would consist. Meanwhile, Harry was approached by Zacharias Smith of Hufflepuff house, Terry Boot from Ravenclaw and a Slytherin he only knew by the last name of Urquhart. Terry grabbed Harry by the shoulder.

"C'mon. We have to go talk to McGonagall."

"What about?"

"Quidditch."

Harry immediately got up and joined the other three Quidditch captains. The four approached the head table to talk to Professor McGonagall, with Terry Boot again taking the lead.

"Professor, we all noticed that in your welcoming speech there was no mention of Quidditch."

"Well, Boot, I felt everyone would be busy enough already this summer, yourself included. Besides, I am not sure that creating rivalries between the houses is such a good idea right now. No offense, Urquhart, but games involving Slytherin house could get downright nasty."

"Professor," responded Urquhart, "Slytherin house has no desire to participate this summer, for precisely the reason you mention. However, we believe it would be good for the other three houses to compete for the Quidditch Cup. Slytherin would like to field a team merely to prepare for next year and to provide some practice competition for the other three teams. I think this would show that Slytherin house both acknowledges its guilt for the actions of some of its members this past year, as well as showing our desire to reintegrate with the other three houses into the whole of Hogwarts."

By this time, many of the other professors were listening in. Professor McGonagall turned to them and they discussed the issue with hushed voices. Finally, the headmistress turned back to face the four Quidditch captains.

"I find Mr. Urquhart's arguments to be most persuasive. OK, you have permission to form your teams and begin a limited practice schedule, no more than two hours per week. If we decide to continue with this, Madam Hooch will develop a schedule and pass it on to the team captains. However, if we find any of the Quidditch players are falling behind in their schoolwork, they will be removed from their teams."

Harry ran back to the Gryffindor table to tell Ron and Ginny the good news. Word quickly spread throughout the hall and the room was abuzz as the students all filed out and headed to their common rooms for the night. Harry was assaulted by students wanting to join the team, until Harry finally announced that tryouts would be held on the weekend.

The next morning, the work began. Mrs. Weasley passed out schedules to the Gryffindor students at breakfast. Harry and Ron both had Potions with Professor Slughorn, Charms with Professor Flitwick, Herbology with Professor Sprout and Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. In a way they felt lucky. They didn't have to take Defense Against the Dark Arts (since they felt they had a graduate course in the subject the last year anyway) and when they looked at Hermione's schedule, they saw she had the same four classes as well as Advanced Arithmancy with Professor Vector and Ancient Runes with Professor Babbling.

The schedule was set up so that each class was divided into two halves. The first half of the class was the standard type of class they have attended the previous six years. The second half was additional make-up work for those who had missed out during the year. Since Harry, Ron and Hermione had missed the entire year so far, all of their classes were of the double variety. It was going to be a busy summer. Ginny was a little happier. Since she had only missed since Easter, her double classes didn't start until near the end of the summer term. Being a sixth-year, she also had no extra tests to worry about. Harry, Ron and Hermione all had the dreaded N.E.W.T.s to prepare for at the end of the summer.

"At least we have some free time while other students have to take those double Defense Against the Dark Arts classes," was the best bright side Ron could come up. As if on cue, Mrs. Weasley stopped by.

"Ron, Harry, I've been looking for the two of you. I am going to need your help some this session. Since the Minister told me you two might be future Aurors, we thought it would be good if you kept in practice with your Defense Against the Dark Arts skills. I have scheduled the two of you to come in and help some of the younger Defense Against the Dark Arts students by having you teach them some disarming spells like you did in your old Dumbledore's Army gatherings. The youngsters are somewhat in awe of you two, so I know they will pay attention."

Harry and Ron agreed, but without enthusiasm.

"Blimey," said Ron after his mom had left, "there goes the last of our free time this summer. We have to spend it teaching midgets."

The first week of classes went quickly. One good thing about the summer session was that the students were able to do some of their homework and studying outdoors during the early portion of the evening before retiring to their common rooms to continue working through the later half. Harry had Tuesday and Thursday afternoons free when other of his classmates had Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and Ginny's schedule was also open during those times. The two afternoons alone made Harry happy enough to get through the heavy workload the rest of the week.

Saturday morning, the Great Hall was filled with the smell of fried sausages and the Gryffindors were full of anticipation for the tryouts for the Quidditch team. Harry had just filled his plate when a rushing sound overhead let him know the owls were coming in, dropping letters and packages to the students. Hermione received her copy of the Daily Prophetand immediately gasped.

"What is it, Hermione?"

It looks like they have started having trials for the Death Eaters and other Voldemort supporters. The article says that the Malfoy family made a guilty plea. Draco and his father Lucius are going to spend six months in Azkaban since Lucius agreed to testify against all of his old Death Eater friends. Plus, the Malfoys are paying a huge fine to the Ministry. It looks like they won't be able to throw so much of their money around to gain access to the Ministry in the future."

"What do you think Draco and his Dad will be like when they get out?" wondered Hermione.

Ron snorted.

"Once a git, always a git. That's what I say. I can't imagine they will change all that much."

Harry gave it a little more thought before shrugging his shoulders.

"Mr. Malfoy didn't seem to change much after the first time Voldemort went away. He didn't seem to be affected much by his first trip to Azkaban either. I just can't imagine not being changed by being near those dementors for six months, but Belletrix Lestrange didn't seem to be any better when she escaped from the prison either. I imagine Mr. Malfoy is so stuck in his ways that he'll always be the same."

"But Draco might be a different matter. His mom seemed to show a lot of concern and love for him. Maybe she'll help him come around. In one of the memories Snape gave me, it showed that Dumbledore once told him that Draco's soul was not yet so damaged that he should be allowed to perform a murder. And remember, he had the chance to kill Dumbledore and he hesitated long enough that Snape was able to do it and save Draco from committing the crime. There might be some hope for him yet."

Ron thought for a minute then asked Hermione, "Anyone else we know on trial yet?"

"Just all the standard Death Eaters we knew about. Also a couple of Hogwarts' students, like Gregory Goyle. If Malfoy only got sentenced to six months, they probably won't get too much either."

Harry couldn't decide what he felt about that. He didn't think anyone deserved to be helpless in the presence of dementors, especially any of his classmates. On the other hand, he couldn't figure out why anyone would support and help someone as evil as Voldemort, either. Those people were willing to kill his friends and classmates. It was an idea that was impossible for Harry to understand.

By ten o'clock, most of the Gryffindor house seemed to be out at the Quidditch pitch. Fortunately, this year Harry did not have to deal with groups of giggling girls who were trying out just because they found Harry interesting. Apparently Ginny had made it abundantly clear to all that she would not tolerate such activity this year, and it turned out that everyone knew when to take Ginny seriously.

Harry decided to start by repeating last year's basic test. That is, he made everyone get on their brooms and show off their flying abilities. Only a few, mainly first years, did not show any flying ability. They were immediately eliminated from contention. About half of the others showed enough weaknesses in their flying skills that Harry was also able to remove them from consideration. These joined the other spectators in the stands, where the atmosphere was almost as excited as if it were an actual Quidditch match.

Harry next decided to try out the Chasers. Katie Bell was gone, but he still had Ginny and Demelza Robins returning from the previous year. He also had Dean Thomas, who had played while Katie was hospitalized last year, so he practically had three incumbents trying out for the job, as well as a dozen of so others.

In the spirit of helping bring Hogwarts back together, Harry had recruited a couple of the members of the Slytherin team to help him out. The Slytherin Keeper Miles Bletchley volunteered to play defense during the Chaser tryouts. Harry had each Chaser take five runs at the goal, and Ginny was the only one to score the Quaffle all five times. Harry pulled out Ginny to help him decide who would be the other two Chasers and eliminated four who had not scored at all from contention.

For the other seven candidates next run through, Harry sent out the Slytherin Beaters, Malcolm Baddock and Graham Pritchard, to harass the Chasers with one of the Bludgers. Three of the Chasers were knocked off their brooms by the Bludgers, while Demelza managed to duck them all and score four out of five Quaffles to earn her spot on the team.

That left Dean Thomas, Dennis Creevy and Natalie McDonald fighting for the last spot. Dennis took a couple of Bludger hits and only managed to get two of his five shots with the Quaffle past Bletchley. Natalie flew nicely, avoiding the Bludgers and getting four shots passed the Keeper. Unfortunately, only two of those four managed to pass through the scoring rings. Dean managed to put forth his best effort of the tryouts under this pressure, scoring four goals with the Quaffle and claiming the third Chaser position.

The Beater trials were next, and Harry fully expected both Ritchie Coote and Jimmy Peakes to reclaim their positions. Jimmy did indeed impress with incredibly hard hits on the Bludger, showing the skill if not the craftiness that Fred and George Weasley used to display. Ritchie performed well, but was surprising outflown by Parvati Patil in her first tryout for the team. But in the end, both were outdone by a young third year named Euan Abercromby, who showed signs of his youth and inexperience, but also showed glimpses of brilliance on the broom. Harry thought he would be a star in years to come.

Finally came the part the Harry dreaded the most, the Keeper trials. Harry wanted to just give the job to Ron, after his brilliant performances at he end of last year. However, Cormac McLaggen's younger brother Sean was in attendance and would demand a fair tryout, along with three other younger players. Harry decided to have his three Chasers, as well as two of the Slytherin Chasers, Urquhart and Vaisey, each take two shots at every Keeper.

The first two candidates were no match for the five Chasers, each allowing all ten shots to score. Sean McLaggen was next, and he performed admirably, stopping seven of the ten shots, including one of Ginny's. This made Harry nervous, as Sean seemed to be the same as his brother Cormac, who had been an extremely disruptive influence last year. Harry was determined not to let him on the team, no matter what the result of the tryout was. Harry was hoping fervently for Ron to clearly earn the job and save Harry the controversy of appearing to favor his friends.

Next up was another third year, Emma Dobbs. Harry was expecting the Chasers to score at will on Emma, but instead Emma stopped five shots and came close on two others. She definitely showed potential, and Harry decided he would be more willing to take a chance on her than go with what he knew would be the mistake of selecting Sean McLaggen.

Finally, it was Ron's turn. At the tryouts the last two years, Ron had looked nervous to the point of being sick. This year, he strode onto the pitch with an air of confidence. Harry did not know if that came naturally with age, as a result of his performance last season, from the trials they had overcome in the last year, or from his new relationship with Hermione. But it was a welcome change for Harry to see and it filled him with hope.

Ginny was up first and it was obvious she did not want to be accused of taking it easy on her brother. Ginny displayed some beautiful moves, and while Ron got his fingertips on both of her shots, they both had enough on them to get past and through the rings to score. Harry was really worried now. History showed that a poor start often led to Ron losing his confidence and his performance degrading even further.

At that moment, a ruckus arose at the top of the stands. Seamus was yelling as he pointed towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Look, everyone! It's Professor Weasley riding on the hood of a car!"

The crowd started scrambling for the top of the bleachers to get a look. Then a couple of seconds later Seamus was yelling again.

"Whoops! Not anymore! Never mind."

It took a few moments to sink in, but then Harry started chuckling. Ginny had her head buried in her hands, while Ron was laughing so hard that he found himself hanging upside down from his broom. After a few minutes, things calmed down enough to continue the tryouts. Ron stopped both shots from Dean and Demelza, then the two Slytherins took their turns. They had no chance. Ron easily blocked those four shots also to reclaim the job. McLaggen was seen chasing after the Slytherin Chasers, claiming they had taken it easy on Ron in order to sabotage the Gryffindor team. Ron had to be held back from running up to McLaggen and smacking him with one of the Beater's bats.

Harry was very happy with the tryouts. He ended up with what he felt was a slightly improved team over the one which won the Quidditch cup last year. If everyone could stay healthy and out of detentions (and with Snape gone, Harry felt this would not be a problem), they ought to have a good chance to repeat.

The first person Harry went to talk to was Emma Dobbs. He wanted to make sure she knew how impressed Harry was with her and to tell her that she should try out again next year, when the position would again be open. If, as Harry suspected, Ginny was going to be the captain next year, she had the potential to have a very good team. He then told Dean, Demelza, Euan and Jimmy that the first practice would be the next Saturday afternoon.

Harry then walked into the stands, where Ginny was watching as Ron was describing each block in detail to Hermione. Hermione put on a good show of being interested, but it looked to Harry as if she would rather get back to writing her book. By the time Ron started using complicated hand motions to describe his plays, Harry grabbed him by the shoulder and started leading him out of the stadium.

"I think we're going to win both games and take that cup again this year, Harry."

"Just remember," chided Hermione, "that Professor McGonagall said she was going to ban any players who were not keeping up with their schoolwork. Better give a little priority to doing your homework this summer."

As the four friends left the Quidditch pitch, they decided to swing past Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was building a large animal pen out back, and his half-brother, the giant Grawp, was helping him with the heavy lifting. Grawp saw them first, dropping a long log onto part of the already built pen before speaking.

"Hermy!"

At that, Hagrid looked up from his work in time to catch Grawp reaching out to grab Hermione. A stern look from Hagrid made Grawp stop and return to his work.

"Hey, it's you lot. How'd the tryouts for the Quidditch team come off?"

"Pretty well, Hagrid, except we couldn't find anyone better to take over Ron's Keeper position."

Ron immediately fired back.

"That's no way to talk about the star of your team, the Keeper who is going to make it look like his captain knows what he's doing."

"Don't mind them, Hagrid," interrupted Ginny. "We're going to have a great team. So, why are you and Grawp building this pen?"

"I need a place ter temporarily store some of the bigger creatures for Professor Grubbly-Plank's classes. The Chamber o' Secrets would 'ave been a great spot, if only there was a decent way ter get into the place."

Hermoine asked Hagrid how long he stayed in the Chamber of Secrets after they had let him a few days ago.

"I was in there a good day an' a half. Good thin' I brought a snack with meh. Anyway, I followed ev'ry passage until I was convinced there is jus' one way in or out of that place, and there are no more creatures in there. Like I said, it would be a great place to use for a lot o' things, except I would need Ron to let me in ev'ry time."

"So what creatures are you gathering for Professor Grubbly-Plank this summer, anyway?" asked Ginny.

"Might be better to ask what creatures' I ain't got ter round up. Just flobberworms and the like fer the first years, but they get bigger and rarer for the older ones. She wants to show the sixth years a hippogriff, so I'm bringin' in Buckbeak fer them, plus about three other creatures. Gonna be keepin' me plenty busy, that's fer sure."

Hagrid stopped to show Grawp where the next log went for the pen, then returned to the students.

"Ron, yer Mum tells me she has you an' Harry doing a little teaching starting next week. Sort of like a dueling club, I hear."

"Yeah, I think we start with the first years this Monday night and then work our way up to the older students. Good thing Ginny's not in the Defense Against the Darks Arts classes or I'd be afraid she'd show up her big brother. Anyway, Mom says it will be like Auror practice, just working on Disarming spells. It will be like the old Dumbledore's Army days, right Harry?"

Ron's last comment caused Harry to have an idea.

"I bet Luna and Neville would love to come and help out. They always loved that stuff. Then we'd have some extra instructors and it would give Hermione time to work on her book and let Ginny catch up on her homework."

After another few minutes talking to Hagrid, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny went back to the castle. There was still a little homework to be done, but mostly there was the rest of the weekend to enjoy before things got a little busier the rest of the summer session.

**Bye, review and follow!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N I was at summer camp so sorry I didn't warn you guys**

**Amy I'll ask my uncle these questions because he owns the story. I think with a basic education by Harry or Hermione anyone could teach Muggle Studies, though I do not know why he made Mrs. Weasly Head of Gryffindor. I'll ask him that when I meet him next.**

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CHAPTER SEVEN

SECRET IN HOGSMEADE

Harry talked to Luna and Neville on Sunday and they were indeed more than willing to help out teaching basic defensive spells to the first years. At seven o'clock Monday evening, Harry and Ron met up with Neville and swung by the Ravenclaw common room to pick up Luna. When they entered the Great Hall, they noticed all the long dining tables were gone, leaving a huge amount of open space for the class. The first years all had their wands out. Harry wondered if they were more excited because they were all going to get a chance to do some actual magic, or because they were going to get to meet a 'celebrity'. Harry's fears were confirmed as he heard excited whispering as they entered the room.

"That's him!"

"Do you think he'll show us how he killed You-Know-Who?"

"He's cute!"

"Think he can take Professor Weasley?"

Mrs. Weasley waited for the hall to quiet down, then started to make introductions.

"I thought that all of you would enjoy a chance to practice some defensive spells, so I brought in some older students who have a wealth of experience teaching, learning and using them. May I present to you a sixth year Ravenclaw, Miss Luna Lovegood, as well as three seventh year Gryffindors, Mr. Neville Longbottom, Mr. Ron Weasley and Mr. Harry Potter."

Professor Weasley waited for the applause to die down before continuing.

"Mr. Potter, I turn the class over to you."

"Right," said Harry, after Mrs. Weasley had sat down. "I was thinking, the first thing I would like to show you is _Expelliarmus_, the disarming charm. What I like about it is that it is purely a defensive spell. You should not be able to harm anyone using it."

"So what's the point?" asked a young Hufflepuff named Julia Whitby.

"The point is, _Expelliarmus_ can be used to knock the wand out of your opponent's hand. Without their wand, they are no longer an immediate threat to you. _Expelliarmus_ can also work to block your opponent's spells. I used this spell to defeat Lord Voldemort."

There was a gasp from all the first years, then silence until Patricia Brocklehorst spoke up.

"How did a mere disabling charm defeat You-Know-Who?"

"Voldemort tried to hit me with a killing curse. My _Expelliarmus_ charm not only blocked his curse, but caused his curse to rebound back onto himself. Therefore, you could say he killed himself."

This caused lots of murmuring amongst the students, which took a few minutes to die down. Finally, Harry was able to be heard again.

"Neville, why don't you come up here next to me. Now, Ron will use this charm to disarm me, then Luna will do the same thing to Neville. Go ahead, Ron."

Ron seemed to like the idea of getting to go first and getting to hit Harry with a spell. Ron faced Harry and bowed deeply. Then he raised his wand in front of him. He said with a flourish, "On the count of three, I will disarm you, Harry Potter."

"One, two, three. _Expelliarmus!_"

A dazzling flash of scarlet light came out of Ron's wand and hit Harry in the chest. Harry's wand flew out of his hand, and Harry was blasted backwards several feet, landing on the floor with a loud thump.

"Notice how my wand was blown out of my hand," said Harry from the floor. "When you first try this, this is the most you can realistically hope for. The part where your opponent gets blasted off his feet will probably take a lot of practice to achieve. Luna, you're up!"

Luna stepped up and gave Neville a small bow. Her _Expelliarmus_ charm both blew Neville's wand out of his hand and sent him flying until he landed on Harry. A couple of the first years brought Harry and Neville back their wands as they slowly got to their feet.

"What do you think, Harry?" asked Neville. "Turnabout is fair play?"

They shouted together "_Expelliarmus!_" The flashes of light from their wands lit up the hall, and Ron and Luna lay laughing, wandless, on the floor several feet behind where they had just been standing.

"Right," said Harry. "We've had our fun. Now it is time for you to form pairs and try it yourself. Let's have one line right here and another line over there. Professor Weasley, can we get some cushions behind everyone just in case someone gets the hang of it right away?"

Mrs. Weasley summoned enough cushions to place behind all of the students, then Harry turned them loose. He and Professor Weasley walked behind one row of students to help them out, while Ron, Neville and Luna walked behind and helped the other row of students.

The room was full of shouts of "_Expelliarmus!_" Flashes of light filled the hall and occasionally a wand would fly in the air followed by a shout of "I did it!" Once, while Neville was trying to help one student, a stray spell hit him in the back, knocking him into that student while his wand flew into Grover Duncan's ear.

Under the tutelage of Professor Weasley and the four older students, the first years started having more success. Soon wands were flying out of target's hands with regularity, and even a few students were being forced backwards onto the cushions waiting behind them. When the time came to end the class, Professor Weasley had a hard time getting the student's attention. The first years were having so much fun doing actual spells, and doing so successfully, that it was hard to get them to stop. Finally, Professor Weasley got the class settled down.

"Well, that was certainly a productive class! We will be continuing to practice this occasionally in your regularly scheduled Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. For now, it is time for you to all return to your common rooms."

As the students were leaving, Mrs. Weasley called over Harry, Ron, Neville and Luna.

"You four are natural teachers. Ginny had told me how much she and others had learned in your secret Dumbledore's Army classes two years ago. Now I believe her. I think the four of you need to consider the possibilities of becoming teachers when you choose your careers."

Ron and Luna looked doubtful while Harry was pretty much set on the idea of being an Auror. Neville, however, looked to be considering the idea deeply, as Mrs. Weasley continued.

"Can I count on the four of you again next week for the second year students?"

They are assured her they would be back and took off for their own dorms to catch up on their own homework.

"That was quite enjoyable, don't you think?" asked Luna.

"Absolutely," said Ron, "but I don't think I want to teach little midgets every day the rest of my life. How does the thought of being a teacherstrike you, Harry?"

"Nah, I think I still want to try to be an Auror. What are your thoughts, Neville?"

"Professor Sprout keeps telling me I'd make a good teacher, too. I think I am going to look into it."

By then, it was time for Luna to continue on to the Ravenclaw room while the three Gryffindor's approached the Fat Lady.

"Viriliter age," said Neville, and the portrait swung open to let them in.

One nice thing about Harry's fame was that the other Gryffindors left him a regular spot near the fireplace in the common room. Though the fire was seldom lit in the summer, Harry still enjoyed this location in the common room the best. He strolled over to his seat to join Ginny who was already awaiting him there.

"Harry, did you see the bulletin board?" she asked. "We are allowed to go into Hogsmeade this Sunday. Shall we make it a date?"

For some reason Harry still felt guilty talking like this with Ron around. He glanced over his shoulder to where Hermione was helping Ron with his homework.

"Don't look at me like that, you git!" exclaimed Ron. "I'm not in charge of what Ginny does. At least, that's what she says."

"About time you realized that, big brother," proclaimed Ginny.

Harry felt like he had finally been given the full green light. It turned out that it had been a very good day all around.

Time passed quickly throughout the rest of the week. Saturday morning arrived, and with it came the team's first Quidditch practice. Ron was in excellent form, stopping almost everything sent his way. So much so that he was starting to get cocky in the goal. Ginny noticed and took over taking shots at him. Neither one could get an advantage, as Ron blocked about half and about half got by him. Ron and Ginny were developing a strong intra-team rivalry; tense, but friendly.

The rest of the team was looking good, also. While Chasers Dean Thomas and Demelza Robins did not show Ginny's level of talent, they were solid and were not making mistakes. The same could be said for Beater Jimmy Peakes. The other Beater, Euan Abercromby, was getting better as the practice went on, still showing flashes of real talent, but also making fewer and fewer mistakes.

Harry hated to admit it, but the weakest position on the team at the moment seemed to be Seeker. Harry had barely flown on a broomstick in the past year, and his rustiness showed. But even he was flying a lot better by the end of practice. The team was loose and confident by the end of the morning. They were going to be a tough team to beat this summer.

Sunday was the trip to Hogsmeade. Excited students gathered at the entrance hall, waiting for Filch to check if they had permission to go and to warn them that he would be confiscating anything they tried to bring back from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Harry and Ginny were some of the last to leave, and Harry noticed he did not see Ron and Hermione.

"Hermione and I talked it over last night, and decided today would be a day for couples, instead of the usual gang of four," smiled Ginny. "Those two were at the front of the line, so they should get to town well ahead of us."

After getting a stern talking to from Filch (probably because Ginny was a Weasley, since Harry didn't think Filch knew that he was a part owner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes), they set off across the grounds and into Hogsmeade. Harry enjoyed getting a chance to see the village alive and jumping again, as opposed to a few months ago when it was filled with Death Eaters and dementors. He had bad memories of that last visit, from almost getting caught by Death Eaters to watching Voldemort have his snake Nagini murder Professor Snape in the Shrieking Shack.

"Well, did you and Hermione come up with our schedule last night, too?"

"Actually, we did," replied Ginny with a grin. "I thought we'd start out with an early lunch at the Hog's Head, then head over to Honeydukes for dessert and some sweets to bring back to Hogwarts."

"You don't want to go to Madam Puddifoot's?"

"Maybe later," grinned Ginny. "We'll let Ron suffer there first."

Harry and Ginny wandered over to the Hog's Head. It was a small bar, off the main road of the village, with a battered wooden sign over the door. It consisted of one small dirty room, and a set of customers who apparently liked to keep their identities as hidden as they kept their faces. However, the barman was a familiar, welcome sight.

"Aberforth!" cried Harry. "It is great to see you again. How's business?"

"Still trying to recover from all the free food I gave that Longbottom boy and all his friends last year. It just about used up all the gold Albus left me to look after the lot of you, that did. So, what can I get you?"

"How about two butterbeers and a couple of sandwiches, please?"

Aberforth pulled out two dusty bottles and went to the back to get the sandwiches. Ginny spent the time telling Harry stories about her rulebreaking activities while Snape had been in charge at Hogwarts. When Aberforth returned with their lunch, Neville came in the door.

"Hey, Neville, over here," called Ginny.

Neville pulled up a chair and asked Aberforth for his usual lunch.

"Your usual?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, I came in here for lunch every day before the summer term started. I'm trying to pay back Aberforth a little for all the help he recently gave us."

With Neville now there, he and Ginny were able to tell some stories of their activities together, and Neville was able to fill in Ginny about some events that happened after she did not return to school from Easter break. After about an hour had passed, they said their goodbyes to Neville and left for Honeydukes.

It had been over a year since Harry had been in Honeydukes, and he realized he had missed the snack cart on the Hogwarts Express this year also. Suddenly, Harry's sweet tooth came out, and cravings for sugary treats overcame him. Harry and Ginny each picked out a few chocolates for their after lunch dessert, then Harry started selecting snacks to take back to Hogwarts. He got a bag of Every Flavor Beans and another of Fizzing Whizbees. When he started checking out the chunks of creamy nougat, Ginny had to drag him away.

"I don't want you to become my fat boyfriend. You keep that up and you're going to start looking like that cousin of yours."

"Oh yeah? Well, why don't you tell me what kind of boyfriend you want to have?"

"If you haven't figured that out by now, Harry Potter, you're not as bright as people give you credit for."

Ginny flashed Harry a sly grin and led him out of the store. They walked by the Shrieking Shack and Harry told Ginny about how his dad, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew learned to transfigure themselves into animals so that they could safely stay with Remus Lupin there when he would turn into a werewolf every full moon. Then he told her what it was like to be watching from the secret passageway as Snape was murdered. Sensing that he had really ruined what had been a happy mood so far in the day, Harry suggested they move on and visit Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

When they got to the joke shop, they found a large percentage of their classmates already in the packed store. George and Lee were running like madmen trying to keep up with all the business. With all the students so busy with classes, and with the real life threats from Voldemort and the Death Eaters gone, good old fashioned practical jokes were making a big comeback at Hogwarts.

The Ravenclaw duo of Duncan Inglebee and Jason Samuels seemed to be the closest current thing to the Weasley twins at Hogwarts. Indeed, Harry saw them in the far corner loading up on Decoy Detonators, Dungbombs and Ton-Tongued Toffees. Ginny was looking at the bruise removal cream, commenting that Harry should get some so that he didn't look so bad after their Quidditch matches. As Harry was looking over the Muggle magic tricks, George came up from behind.

"About time the other owner showed up. Here to give us a hand, Harry?"

"I wasn't planning on it. With both you and Lee here, who's watching the store in Diagon Alley?"

"Verity is there today. She shouldn't be too busy on a Sunday with the lot of you guys in school. We're going to have to hire extra help, though. The three of us are putting in heavy hours, and Lee has to get his wireless radio station up and running before your first Quidditch match."

Lee came walking by with a huge smile on his face.

"If I can't get away from these stores, I'll have to hire Luna Lovegood to broadcast the matches. Though she might be a laugh for a little color commentary, I don't think I want her running my initial broadcast."

"Sounds like you guys need a business manager," said Ginny. "You need someone to free Lee up to do work on his wireless broadcasts and George to develop new product, while the manager deals with the money and with employees."

"That's what we need," agreed George. "Know anyone like that?"

"Hmmm, maybe," whispered Ginny. "How's the business doing?"

"Really good right now," admitted George, "but I'm a little worried about the immediate future. We spent all last year working on those shield products for the Ministry and other adult users. They made us a good profit, but those sales have dried up, thanks to you, Harry. Most of our original stuff is still selling pretty well with the young-uns, but I haven't come up with anything new for them in a while. And the Skiving Snackboxes and Nosebleed Nougats aren't selling so well now that nobody needs to get out of Snape's classes anymore."

"Plus, Filch is threatening to confiscate any of your products coming back into the castle," added Harry. "That has to hurt sales."

"Harry, Harry, Harry, not to worry. We have that covered. We made deals with some of the local businesses. We can make a bag of dungbombs look like your bag of Every Flavor Beans from Honeydukes or a box of quills from Dervish and Banges. Filch will never know the difference."

George and Lee took off to help other customers. Harry and Ginny worked their way towards the door, stopping several times to talk with classmates who were eyeing their own practical joke purchases. Harry made a mental note to be extra careful around certain classmates during the next few weeks.

As they left the shop, Harry was just telling Ginny what a great day he was having when his girlfriend nudged him and pointed across the road. There was Ron and Hermione. Hermione was leaning her head against Ron's shoulder as they walked. Ron looked less relaxed, as if he was trying to make sure no one saw him being sensitive in public. The two turned into the Three Broomsticks. Harry suggested they go over and join them.

"No, we get to see Ron and Hermione all the time. They seemed pretty happy by themselves, and I'm not really in the mood to see my brother right now. Besides, now is when you have to pay for your good day. I want to spend some time with you at Madam Puddifoot's."

Madam Puddifoot ran a tea shop that mostly catered to couples on these weekends. Harry had been there once before with Cho Chang and that visit had been an unqualified disaster. Something about being in public surrounded by other couples made Harry very uneasy. Not to mention that the lacy, frilly decorations in the place reminded him of Dolores Umbridge's old office. However, Ginny was quite insistent, and Harry had at least learned when it was best not to disagree with her.

They walked down a side road until they reached the small tea shop. There were only a few tables still open, so they took a small table for two by the front window. This relieved Harry, since all the couples who were kissing seemed to be at tables which were in the far back. Harry looked around and saw several familiar faces, including Padma Patil and Michael Corner holding hands just two tables away.

A stout woman who Harry remembered was Madam Puddifoot approached their table.

"What'll you have today, m'dears?"

"A coffee for me," answered Ginny. "Same for you, Harry?"

"Er … yeah," stuttered Harry.

Madam Puddifoot soon returned with two steaming cups of coffee. Without realizing how it had happened, Harry now noticed he was holding Ginny's hand. There was just something about this place, he decided.

"So," said Ginny as it was obvious she was trying not to look Harry in the eye, "have you figured out what you want to do next year?"

"Partially. Ron and Hermione and I are talking about traveling for a bit. Hermione might show us where her family likes to go skiing in France, then we would go to Romania to visit your brother Charlie. Hermione wants to see Victor Krum in Bulgaria, but I don't think Ron is too keen on that idea. Then we'd let Ron show us around Egypt before going to Australia to see Hermione's parents."

A look at Ginny's face told Harry this was not what she had meant by her question. So he decided to continue.

"Minister Shacklebolt said that he would help Ron and I become Aurors, and I'm pretty sure that's what I want to do. I hear there will be a lot of training involved, which should keep me pretty busy next year."

"I meant," said Ginny as she leaned closer over the table towards Harry, "what do you want to do _about us _next year? You know, I'll be here at Hogwarts all year and you won't be."

One thing about Ginny that Harry always liked was that she was direct and to the point. Harry rarely had to try to figure out what she wanted because she would always tell him. It kept their relationship comfortable. But Harry suddenly felt as though he was being tested, and he had the idea that he did not want to fail this test.

"Well, I … em, I was hoping that you'd, like, want me to come and ... um … you know, meet you here whenever they let you go to Hogsmeade. And maybe your family would let me come and, um, visit whenever you are home for holidays."

Harry thought he saw a smile briefly flash across Ginny's face, but if it did it was immediately replaced by a serious look.

"So, in other words, you're saying we should keep seeing each other as much as possible next year, and not be going out with anyone else?"

Harry thought that of course that's what he wanted. That's what they'd been doing ever since he'd come back to Hogwarts and Voldemort had been defeated. Harry was as happy as he had ever been. He certainly didn't want anything to change.

"That's pretty much what I'm saying. I want to see you as much as possible, and I have no interest in ever seeing anyone else."

Then Harry grew a bit more hesitant.

"Isn't that what you want?"

"Of course that is what I want, silly. It is just that, well, dating only each other, being apart and reserving all the open time we can get for each other, it all sounds a lot like being engaged."

Harry's mind reeled as Ginny was speaking. Ever since Bill and Fleur's wedding last summer, Harry often thought back to how beautiful Ginny looked in her bridesmaid's dress, and he remembered the passion of the kiss he and Ginny had shared on Harry's seventeenth birthday the day before the wedding. He imagined Ginny walking up the aisle to become married to him, with all their family and friends there to watch. He had always known that it was something he eventually wanted, but he suddenly realized that it was the only thing he really desired.

Harry took a deep breath and decided to just say what he was thinking. "It does sound a lot like being engaged. In fact, that sounds like a pretty good idea to me. How does it sound to you?"

It was Ginny's turn to display a bit of surprise. She had planned this entire day, including this conversation, and so far everything had gone as she had expected. She thought she knew how Harry felt about her, but she wanted him to express those feelings out loud so she could know for sure. But she had not planned on hearing what could almost be interpreted as a marriage proposal from him.

"Are you asking what I think you're asking?"

It was Harry's turn to lean in towards Ginny, so that their faces were now only inches apart. He hesitated for just a second, long enough to assure himself that he knew exactly what he was doing.

"I think you and I should spend the rest of our lives together. I think you and I should get married some day. And … I think I need to know if you agree with me."

Harry looked into Ginny's eyes, anxiously awaiting her answer. She was not saying anything, but instead returning Harry's gaze. Then Harry noticed that a smile was slowly growing on Ginny's face. Suddenly, she was kissing him. Harry no longer noticed where he was, nor did he notice who else was in the room. As far as he was concerned, it was just he and Ginny, and all was right in the world. It reminded him so much of the moment they shared on Harry's seventeenth birthday that Harry half expected Ron to interrupt them.

When their lips finally parted, the other sights and sounds of the tea room returned. Most of the other couples in the room were too interested in each other to pay any attention to Harry and Ginny, though Harry did notice Terry Boot was smiling and winking at him.

"So," whispered Harry, "now what?"

"I don't know. I've never gotten engaged before."

"I was wondering what would have happened if Ron had walked in a minute ago. How do you think he will handle the news?"

"I'm not sure, but I can handle Ron. It's Mom I'm worried about."

Ginny leaned back and appeared lost in thought for a moment. When she spoke, it was almost to herself as much as it was to Harry.

"I think it might be best to keep this quiet for now. I don't think either one of us needs to deal with Ron. Dad won't be a problem and Mom will be thrilled to have you in the family, Harry. But she'll keep saying that I am too young to get engaged, and that her baby girl can't be getting married yet. You thought she was wound up for Bill's wedding? Just wait until she hears her only daughter is engaged."

"So how long do you want to keep it a secret? I'm not very good at keeping things quiet, especially from Ron and Hermione."

"I would think until at least sometime in the next school year. That way you'll be out of school and I'll be in my last year. We'll have shown that we're still serious even though we're not together every day like we are now. Plus, if what I think is going to happen …"

Ginny drifted back into thought for a moment before continuing.

"I think we'll know when the time is right. Can you keep it secret for a few months or so?"

"I think so, but like I said, it will be tough to keep it from Ron and Hermione."

"Hermione will probably figure it out anyway. She's pretty amazing at figuring people out that way. I might just go ahead and tell her. After all, she's the one who kept giving me advice on how to get you to be interested in me in the first place. And she won't tell Ron. In fact, she'll enjoy keeping it a secret from him."

It was time for them to be getting back to Hogwarts, so they finished up their coffee, left a sickle and a few knuts for payment, and headed out the door. Terry Boot stopped Harry just outside the door to tease him a bit.

"Is that how you reward all your Quidditch players, Harry? If so, give me some warning so I can make sure I'm not around when you bring your Keeper here."

They walked slowly through the village back towards the Hogwarts grounds, none too anxious for the day to end. Every time he and Ginny looked at each other they broke into instant smiles as they thought of the secret they were keeping. Ginny nudged Harry's side and pointed ahead to where Ron and Hermione were walking. Hermione was still leaning her head on Ron's shoulder, but this time Ron had his arm wrapped around her. Harry was about to chuckle when he noticed that he and Ginny looked exactly the same way. Apparently his best friends also had a good day in Hogsmeade.

As they entered the school the fairy tale day was over and they were back to reality. Filch was waiting for them, anxiously searching everyone who was returning for forbidden Weasley's Wizard Wheezes items. His bad mood indicated that so far he had found none. Leave it to George to have outwitted Filch again.

**Next chapter Quidditch! yeah**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Guys I am so sorry that i haven't been able to post but my WiFi cuts out sometimes so if I don't post that's why. I don't own Harry Potter.**

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CHAPTER EIGHT

QUIDDITCH

No one felt like doing much in the Gryffindor common room that night. Hermione and Ginny both said they were tired and needed to get some sleep, though Harry figured they'd be awake for awhile in the dorm room, discussing and comparing their experiences from the day. Harry wondered if Hermione would say anything to him tomorrow or not, and finally decided that he didn't understand women well enough to even take a guess. Harry found he could not concentrate, so he put away his books and also went to bed. Ron never liked to do homework on his own, so he soon followed.

Harry noticed that Neville was not back in his bed yet. He didn't know how Neville was keeping up. Besides his own classes, Neville was also still helping Harry once a week with their special Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, as well as spending many hours working with Professor Sprout. The Neville Longbottom whom Harry had known during their first several years at Hogwarts could not have handled it, but in the last year he had really grown in both his confidence as well as his skills.

The next few weeks went quietly and smoothly. Classes continued and each week Harry, Ron, Neville and Luna taught a new class their special Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. Every Saturday was Quidditch practice and a visit with Hagrid, while every Sunday was a time to catch up on homework and spend time with Ginny. The only real difference Harry noticed was that Ginny seemed to be sitting a little closer to him these days. When Harry pointed out that observation to her, Ginny just smiled and motioned towards Ron and Hermione. Harry then noticed that they were also sitting awfully close together. He wondered what his friends had talked about during that day in Hogsmeade. But Harry did not want to bring up the subject and neither Ron nor Hermione seemed inclined to do so either.

One of the highlights of this period came after a Saturday afternoon Quidditch practice. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione stopped by Hagrid's hut for their weekly visit. Just as Hagrid was opening the door to greet them, a loud honking noise started sounding in the Forbidden Forest. The noise got louder until Mr. Weasley's car burst into the clear. It pulled right up to Hagrid's hut with Mr. Weasley shouting out the window.

"We got it, Hagrid! I knew a little persistence would pay off!"

"Blimey," said Hagrid, "didn't think yeh were ever gonna ketch that thing."

Harry then saw Seamus Finnigan hanging out the passenger-side window.

"Look at it guys! A real fixer-upper, eh?"

"Seamus!" yelled Ron, "what are you doing in there?"

"I recruited young Mr. Finnigan to help me catch and then work on the Ford Anglia. It turns out he is an experienced mechanic."

"My father is a Muggle, and he loves cars. Every summer when I am home on break, Dad and I fiddle with one of his old classics. It was always good for me to stay close to my Dad by doing things with him unrelated to the magical world. Wait until I tell him about this old jalopy."

The two of them drove off towards Hogsmeade where Mr. Weasley had rented a garage in order to store the car. As they drove off, they heard Mr. Weasley yell one last thing.

"Ron, Ginny, whatever you do, don't tell your mother about this!"

As the summer wore on, an air of excitement started to return to Hogwarts. It was almost time for the special Quidditch season.

For the first match of the season, Gryffindor was taking on Ravenclaw. The Gryffindor team was widely favored to win this match and eventually win the Quidditch Cup, as word of how good the team was looking in practices made its way around the school. Ravenclaw, on the other hand, had a new team captain in Terry Boot and many new team members, including a new Seeker to replace Cho Chang named Su Li.

On the morning of the match the Gryffindor team members gathered at the house table in the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry found that he wasn't as nervous as in previous years before Quidditch matches. He figured that after all they went through in the last year while fighting Voldemort, a Quidditch match, while still important, was no longer the life and death experience it once seemed to be. Ron apparently felt the same way. Harry had never seen his Keeper able to eat anything before a previous match, while today he was polishing off a huge breakfast.

On the other hand, Ginny was feeling a little uneasy. While they were sitting in front of the fire the night before, she told Harry that she was torn between two conflicting emotions. She felt a need to live up to the reputations of her older brothers, and this made her nervous. But she also felt a burning desire to prove she was better than all of her brothers, and she felt that this confidence and desire motivated her more than her nervousness held her back. Harry did his best to reassure and calm her, but he knew from experience that nothing much helps on the morning of a big Quidditch match.

The other two Chasers showed their nerves differently. Demelza Robins was quietly eating her breakfast, trying to visualize the match in her head and to block out all outside distractions. In contrast, Dean Thomas was anxiously talking to anyone who would listen, needing to verbalize his thoughts on the coming match instead of keeping them bottled up inside. Harry noticed that he was driving Demelza slightly mad.

The one new player, Euan Abercromby, was paler than Harry had ever seen him before. The other Beater, Jimmy Peakes, was trying to get Euan to eat something, but it was obvious that it was more likely that things were going to be coming out of Euan's stomach than going into it. Jimmy, on the other hand, looked ready to go. Harry couldn't help being reminded of Fred and George Weasley whenever he saw the happy-go-lucky style that Jimmy brought to his Beater duties.

Finally, at eleven o'clock Harry stood up and told his team it was time to get dressed. They rose and walked towards the Quidditch pitch surrounded by cheering Gryffindors. Even Hagrid was standing outside his hut yelling his encouragement to Harry, Ron and Ginny. Up ahead, Harry saw the Ravenclaw team being cheered not only by their fellow Ravenclaws but also by many Hufflepuffs and Slytherins.

For the first time in Harry's career, the majority of the fans were going to be rooting for the other team. With Gryffindor having won the previous three Quidditch Cups and favored to repeat again this year, the non-Gryffindors were rooting for a new champion. At least it wasn't going to be nasty like some of the feelings between the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams in the past. This was a more positive experience, as most of the fans were rooting for the Ravenclaws, not against Harry and his Gryffindor team.

As the team changed into their scarlet Quidditch robes, it was time for Harry to give his captain's pep talk to the team. Harry knew he was not capable of the fiery do-or-die speeches Oliver Wood used to give, so he did not even try to match them. Instead, he took a calmer and more measured approach.

"I know that we have a very good team. We have experienced, proven people at every position. We have Chasers who are better scorers, Beaters who will harass the Ravenclaws and a Keeper who will stop them cold. If we all play as hard and as well as we can, I don't believe Ravenclaw can beat us. But that's the key. No matter how well the match is going, we have to keep playing all out to the best of our abilities."

With that, they left the locker room and walked onto the pitch while a roar arose from the Gryffindor section. Soon after, Terry Boot led the Ravenclaw team onto the field to even more thunderous applause while Harry heard the familiar voice of Lee Jordan announcing.

"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of this special Hogwarts' summer session. Today we have the Ravenclaw team captained by Terry Boot taking on the three-time defending champion Gryffindor squad captained by none other than Harry Potter. All fourteen players will be flying today on new Firebolt brooms. Firebolt, the broom of Hogwarts and it should be the broom of your own personal choice. Even before Hogwarts recently updated their brooms, the Firebolt had been the broom of choice of Harry Potter himself. Now, for the color commentary of today's match, I am joined by Hufflepuff captain Zacharias Smith."

Harry groaned. That meant the broadcast was going to be pro-Ravenclaw also, if the last time Zacharias did commentary was any indication.

Madam Hooch called the captains together to shake hands before the start of the match. Then she released the golden Snitch and the two Bludgers and announced, "Mount your brooms."

Fourteen brooms and their riders rose in the air. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast of her silver whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air to start the match. Lee Jordan's commentary immediately filled the stadium.

"Ravenclaw gets the Quaffle first. Bradley has it and throws to Chambers. Chambers ducks under a Bludger from Peakes and charges toward the Gryffindor goal. A quick pass to Boot and a shot … Whoa! A nice save by Weasley, the Gryffindor Keeper."

Harry thought that was always a good sign. Ron's confidence tended to grow with each success, while it tended to drop with each failure. Saving the first shot could only mean good things for the team.

The match was an early defensive struggle. Dean and Demelza both took shots that were stopped by Grant Page, the Ravenclaw Keeper. Likewise, Ron also blocked two more shots quite easily. Harry kept circling, but he had not yet seen any sign of the Snitch. He tried to perform a Wronski defensive feint, but Su Li failed to fall for it. Watching her fly, Harry got the impression he had a tough challenge on his hands today. Finally, Ginny got a hold of the Quaffle and streaked towards the Ravenclaw goal.

"Weasley has the Quaffle and heads towards the Ravenclaw end. Inglebee and Samuels attempt to cut her off. Weasley dives for the ground to avoid the Bludgers then rises straight back towards the left goal with Page moving over to block. Oh! Weasley takes a no look shot back towards the right goal which gets by Page and scores! Gryffindor leads 10 to 0!"

Even Smith was impressed.

"Quite the move by Weasley. The best we've seen so far today! Maybe she is a good Chaser as well as being on the team since she is Harry Potter's girlfriend."

Dean and Demelza recognized the hot scorer and started to make sure Ginny always received the Quaffle. During three straight possessions one of the Gryffindor Beaters knocked the Quaffle away from the Ravenclaws, and three straight times Ginny scored to put Gryffindor up 40-0. Then Harry finally spotted the Snitch hovering over midfield. Su Li apparently spotted it at the same time, as they both flew head on towards each other. The Snitch took a turn towards the Gryffindor goal, and Harry was able to make the turn just ahead of Su Li. The two of then slowly closed in on the Snitch, with Harry about half a broomstick ahead of the Ravenclaw Seeker. Harry leaned forward on his Firebolt and stretched out his hand to within a foot of the Snitch when a well aimed Bludger came pelting for his head. Harry rolled violently to the left to avoid the Bludger and landed on Su Li's broom, causing both of them to plummet towards the ground. Harry rolled off and both got their brooms back under control before they hit the earth. Harry made sure Su Li was all right, but by then the Snitch was again out of sight.

"Definitely interference on Potter, lets see if Ravenclaw is given a penalty shot for that obvious foul or if Potter receives preferential treatment," announced Smith. Harry growled as it was no more than an accidental collision, then noticed Ginny flying directly towards the announcer's stand. She pulled up mere feet away from Smith, who dove to the floor. Obviously, he feared she was going to crash into him as she had done last year when Smith had insulted Harry during a match. Harry chuckled and made a mental note to talk to Ginny about not letting the announcers affect her play.

The Gryffindor team continued to play some of the best Quidditch Harry had ever witnessed. Their defense consistently either stole the Quaffle or forced the Ravenclaws into a poor shot which Ron easily saved. On offense, Dean and Demelza kept feeding the Quaffle to Ginny, who scored on shot after shot while Euan and Jimmy flew protection on either side of her. With the score 140-0, Ron made yet another save.

"Weasley tosses the Quaffle to Robins. Inglebee sends a Bludger in her direction, but she passes to Thomas and dives out of the way. Thomas charges straight for Page guarding the center ring until he is cut off by Samuels. He veers to the right and throws a behind the back pass to Weasley streaking in on the left side! She fakes right, rolls and shoots for the left ring. Score for Gryffindor, who now lead 150-0! Ginny Weasley is now fifteen out of fifteen scoring attempts on the night. The lady is ready to play for the Holyhead Harpies right now, don't you think, Zacharias?"

"Well, it is always the scorer who gets the glory, but credit for that one has to go to Dean Thomas with the great assist. Any competent Chaser should have been able to score with a set-up like that. But don't count Ravenclaw out of this yet, they are still playing hard and a quick grab of the Snitch would tie this up."

Indeed, Bradley took the Quaffle, drew in the Gryffindor Beaters and then passed to Terry Boot who was heading down the left side of the field. At the same time, Harry spotted the Snitch on the right side of the field and soon he and Su Li were again in close pursuit. As before, Harry got a little bit of a jump on the Ravenclaw Seeker and was closing in for the catch when Samuels sent a Bludger heading his way from behind and to the right. This time Harry was ready, and he went quickly upwards and then returned back down right behind the Snitch while the Bludger passed under him.

Meanwhile on the other side of the field Boot let a shot fly towards the rings and Ron moved into position to block again. Out of the corner of his eye Harry noticed that the Bludger which had missed him was on course to strike Ron.

"Watch out!" screamed Harry, but he was too late. The Bludger hit Ron squarely on his left arm and knocked him off his broom. As Ron fell to the ground and landed hard on his left side, the Quaffle flew past him for a score. Harry's attention was distracted by Ron's fall, and Su Li used the occasion to inch past him and grab the Snitch. Madam Hooch's whistle blew.

"Ravenclaw wins! 160-150!"

"I told you!" screamed Smith. "As long as you keep playing hard, good things can happen. Ravenclaw never gave up and kept playing hard and they were rewarded. Not a good day for Harry Potter, I'm afraid."

"Certainly one of the more dramatic upsets I've ever seen," added Lee Jordan. "There will be quite the celebration in the Ravenclaw common room tonight. Meanwhile, the Gryffindors must be devastated."

In shock might have been a better description. Ron had been knocked out by his fall and was just now regaining consciousness. The rest of the team was gathered around him, with Hermione already holding his head in her arms. Harry had to quickly go over and congratulate the Ravenclaw captain and compliment the young Seeker on her great catch, then he returned to Ron, who was just starting to remember where he was.

"What, what happened?"

"You were Bludgered off your broom and fell hard on your arm Ron," responded Hermione. "I think it is broken. We have to get you to see Madam Pomfrey."

Ron turned and saw Harry. "Did we win?"

Harry wanted to tell he they had won to make him feel better, but then decided his friend deserved to hear the truth.

"I'm afraid I let them catch the Snitch right after they scored that goal. They beat us by 10 points."

"What? Oww!" screamed Ron as he tried to sit up and forgot about his broken arm. The sudden pain returned him to the ground once again. Soon Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were on the pitch and helping to move Ron to the hospital wing while the whole team followed in silence. Harry, like the others, could not think of anything worthwhile to say, so he tried to make light conversation.

"Hey, look on the bright side, Ron. At least you don't have Gilderoy Lockhart here to remove all the bones in your arm like he did to me."

Ron gave a brief chuckle, though Hermione flashed an annoyed look at Harry. Soon they had Ron in the hospital wing under Madam Pomfrey's care. Mr. Weasley left to inform the rest of the family while Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, Harry and Ginny stayed with Ron.

"I wasn't expecting to see one of you hurt this summer," admitted a worried sounding Mrs. Weasley. "If anyone, I expected to see your father here after one of his attempts to capture that bewitched Muggle car of his."

"You know about that?" wondered Ginny.

"Oh yes, your father is not very good at hiding things from me. Whenever he snuck off to the forest I would go up into a tower to watch. I finally had to get Seamus Finnigan to mention to your father that he worked on his Dad's cars so that Arthur would ask him to help. I was afraid he would really get hurt if he kept getting thrown into Hagrid's pumpkin patch."

This had all of them laughing uproariously, though Ron's laughter was interrupted by winces of pain. As the five of them struggled to catch their breath, Hermione noticed an owl fluttering against the window. When she opened the window the owl flew in and delivered a note to Ron.

I heard the match on Lee Jordan's wireless radio station. It sounded like you were doing fantastic until you fell off your broom. Maybe the broken arm will remind you to stay in the air next time. Have Ginny help you. She seems to stay airborne for the entire match.

Your brother,

George

P.S. – Tell Ginny it sounded like she had a great match.

"George is just lucky none of his games were broadcast on the wireless, like the time he was given that lifetime ban for fighting," grumped Ron.

"How many people do you think heard the game?" asked Ginny.

"Probably quite a few," said Hermione. "Lee and George had advertisements in the_ Daily Prophet_ all week. Those guys have the magic touch. When word of how exciting the ending of this match was gets out, they'll have a lot more listeners in the future."

Harry mentioned that he didn't think the end was so exciting.

"I thought the rest of the match was, however. Ron was blocking everything they threw at him, and Ginny was making every shot she took. The rest of the team did their jobs to perfection. It was the best Quidditch I'd ever seen until I messed it up."

"You messed it up? What in bloody hell are you talking about, Harry?" asked Ron.

"I should have caught the Snitch at the end. I had the lead on Su Li, but I let myself get distracted. I wouldn't have let that happen in previous years."

Ginny reached an arm around Harry's waist.

"You were more concerned about a friend than about a game. Your priorities concerning what is important have changed, and for the better. How could they not, after what you went through last year?"

"I guess," admitted Harry. "But that doesn't make for the best Quidditch captain in the world."

Harry, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley left Ron and Hermione alone. They were hungry, and it was time for the evening meal. Harry found he could not get around to eating because the Quidditch match was still on his mind. He first went to the Ravenclaw table where he congratulated all their players on their win, especially taking time to tell Su Li how impressed he was with her seeking as a first year player. Then he went back to the Gryffindor table to individually tell Dean, Demelza, Euan and Jimmy how pleased he was with their performances, and even stopped to talk to Emma Dobbs and tell her how he thought she was the Gryffindor Keeper of the future, so she should watch Ron closely and try to pick up some pointers. By the time he finally sat down next to Ginny he was almost too tired to eat.

"It looks like the captain has a time-consuming job."

"It will be your job next year," said Harry as he nibbled on a sausage. "After that incredible performance of yours today, there's no doubt you'll be the captain next year. You'll be much better at it than I am, too. Your more forceful personality is far better suited to the role."

"But this season has been fun, being with you and the rest of the team at all the practices. I just want to play. I'm not sure I want to be in charge. I don't think next year will be as enjoyable."

"But will it be more fun than studying?"

"Oh, definitely," grinned Ginny.

Ron was released from the hospital wing a few days later and school life returned to normal. With the Gryffindor loss, both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students were excited about their upcoming match. A Ravenclaw win would give them the Quidditch Cup for the first time in six years, while a Hufflepuff victory would give them the lead in the standings going into their final game against the Gryffindors.

There was usually not much of a rivalry between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw houses, however a war of friendly practical jokes was breaking out between them. Most of the materials for this war of jokes were provided by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Ginny remarked that the funniest part of all this practical joking was that her brother and Harry were profiting the most from it.

As the day of the match approached, the rest of the school joined in the anticipation. The Gryffindors knew their only chance of winning the Cup was if the Hufflepuffs could pull out the victory, so they were solidly in the Hufflepuff corner. The Slytherins were mostly trying to keep a low profile all summer, but most of them desired to see someone other than the Gryffindors win the Cup, so they were backing the Ravenclaws.

On the morning of the match, Ron spent breakfast working out all the possibilities that would allow Gryffindor to win the Cup, and was emphasizing how they needed to root for the Hufflepuffs.

"I don't think I can root for the Hufflepuffs," declared Ginny. "I'm going to hope that Zacharias Smith takes a Bludger to the noggin."

Harry just about spat part of his breakfast back out on his plate as he tried to hide his laughter. Hermione also looked like she was about ready to let out a giggle or two. She quickly recovered before redirecting the conversation.

"That reminds me, who is student doing the broadcast today? I would have thought Lee would have asked you, Harry, since you are the Gryffindor captain."

"He did. I told him I wasn't interested and that he should ask Ron instead. Lee said he didn't want to do that since Ron's brother is part owner of the station. I think the Slytherin captain, Urquhart, is going to do it, instead."

Ron sounded indignant. "Lee didn't want to let me do it, but he's going to let a Slytherin on the wireless?"

"Urquhart's not a bad guy, for a Slytherin. We've talked Quidditch a few times and we've gotten on quite well. In fact, we've been discussing having a Gryffindor against Slytherin scrimmage at the end of the term."

"All right!" exclaimed Ron. "One more Quidditch match!"

"Actually, we've been talking about only sixth-years and younger playing. It would be sort of a practice for next year. Sorry, Ron."

"That is just another reminder that we're going to be leaving here for good in a few weeks," sighed Hermione. "Even with all the adventures we've had together, it's hard to believe our seven years here are almost over."

Harry reflected on this thought. He could only think of his life in two separate periods. There was the first part where he lived with the Dursleys, which was a miserable time in his life. Then there was the second part where Hogwarts had become his home. Despite all the troubles with Voldemort, Harry had to admit it was overall much better than the first part. He had friends and a feeling of belonging he had not had the first part of his life. Now he was going to have to find a new home soon, and he still had no idea where that might be.

Harry was brought back into the present as everyone started leaving to go to the match. On the walk to the pitch, he asked Ginny who she thought was going to win.

"Hufflepuff has a good, veteran team. They may not score as often as we did, and their Keeper may not block as many shots as Ron did, but Hufflepuff should still outscore them easily. If that happens, then we'll just have to beat Hufflepuff by a good margin and we can still win the Cup."

"Maybe," added Harry, "but watch out for Ravenclaw's Seeker. Summersby on the Hufflepuff side looks like the better and more experienced Seeker on paper, but don't be shocked if Su Li surprises him."

"Hmm," added Ginny with a sly look on her face. "I don't have to worry, do I? It seems you have a thing for Quidditch Seekers. First it was Cho Chang, then me, now this Su Li girl?"

"What … no … I mean … I not interested in anyone else ... you know that."

Harry was getting flustered until Ginny winked at him and snuggled along side him.

"You are so easy to pick on, Harry."

Soon the students were all at the stadium and the match began. The play proceeded much as Ginny had predicted and the Hufflepuffs had a 40-10 lead the first time the Snitch was spotted. Su Li was closest and had a two broomstick lead on Summersby. As the Snitch zigged and zagged across the pitch, Summersby took the better angles and was soon even with Su Li and on her left. A sudden sharp turn to the left by the Snitch allowed Summersby to follow directly behind it as he bodied Su Li off course. Just as it looked like a catch was imminent, the Snitch passed through an area filled with the Quaffle, both Bludgers and several players. In the confusion (and several minor collisions) both Seekers lost track of the Snitch.

No one spotted the Snitch to make a serious attempt to catch it for awhile. Meanwhile, the Hufflepuff lead grew. Three straight goals by Zacharias Smith increased the lead to 70-10 before Terry Boot responded with two goals of his own to make the score 70-30. The lead grew to 90-30 when Summersby went into a sudden steep climb and appeared ready to capture the high flying Snitch. However, Duncan Inglebee desperately clubbed a Bludger in that direction which struck and briefly stunned Summersby just before he could complete the catch.

The Hufflepuff lead steadily grew towards the point where even the 150 points for catching the Snitch wouldn't save the Ravenclaws. With the score 180-60, Summersby spotted the Snitch behind the Hufflepuff Keeper while the action was on the other end of the pitch. He slowly drifted that way, talking to his Keeper to disguise his intentions. By the time Su Li figured out what he was doing, Summersby was in close pursuit of the Snitch as it darted toward the other goal.

At the other end of the pitch, Chasers Cadwallader from Hufflepuff and Bradley from Ravenclaw collided, resulting in the Quaffle popping loose. Smith saw that if he could get to the Quaffle first he would have an open shot at the Ravenclaw goal. Oblivious to all else, including Lee Jordan's announcing, Smith sped towards the loose Quaffle.

"That was a nasty collision between Cadwallader and Bradley, but both seem to be alright. Meanwhile Summersby is streaking across midfield in pursuit of the Snitch. At the rate he is gaining, this match may be over in a few seconds. He's stretching out his hand and … oh my!"

Just as Summersby's fingers grazed the Snitch, Smith barreled into him from the right side, with their skulls colliding. Su Li, who was trailing behind Summersby, swerved down and to the right, cleared the wreckage, and swung back up. Meanwhile the Snitch took a hard right turn, and shot behind Su Li's head. She threw her right arm behind her head and managed to trap the Snitch between her index and middle fingers. Madam Hooch's whistle blew.

"What a catch!" screamed Urquhart. "Ravenclaw gets the 210-180 win and takes the Quidditch Cup with an undefeated 2-0 record! Poor Zacharias Smith looks stunned. That had to be a blow to his ego as well as to his head."

In the Gryffindor section of the stands, reactions were varied. Hermione looked concerned for the health of Smith and Summersby after their violent collision. Ron looked stunned that the sudden change of events denied the Gryffindors the opportunity to repeat as the Quidditch Cup champions. Harry was expressing admiration for the incredible catch made by Su Li, while Ginny was doubled over with laughter at what had happened to Zacharias Smith.

While the Quidditch Cup could not be officially awarded until after the final match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, the Ravenclaw team was in full celebration mode. The team was taking a slow victory lap around the inside of the stadium, with all the students of Ravenclaw house walked along side yelling, cheering and patting the players on the back. As they passed by the Gryffindor section of the stands, Terry Boot looked up until his eyes met with Harry's. Harry smiled and gave him a friendly wave. Terry's grin got even larger as he waved back and returned to the celebration.

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**My uncle writes awesome Quidditch don't you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Between WiFi cutting out at random times and school cutting in to my time i could get chapters posted, so sorry guys. I don't own Harry Potter. **

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CHAPTER NINE

CONSOLATION

During breakfast the next morning, Ron was still replaying yesterday's Quidditch match out loud.

"Hufflepuff had that game in the bag. If only that klutz Smith hadn't run over his own Seeker, they would have won and we'd still have a chance at the Cup. I half think he did it on purpose, just to make sure we couldn't get the Cup. You heard the way he talked about us during our match with Ravenclaw."

"Ron, don't be ridiculous," chided Hermione.

"I agree with Hermione," said Ginny. "Smith isn't smart enough to dream up a complicated strategy like that. Besides, I should thank him for the present he unwittingly gave me. Any time I am feeling low, I'll just think back to him crashing into Summersby and a smile will come across my face."

Just then the owls arrived with the mail. Hermione received her usual copy of the_ Daily Prophet_, then a particularly large owl struggled in with a package hanging underneath him. It eventually settled down in front of Hermione, looking like it needed a week off to recover.

"Oh, you poor thing," said Hermione as she stroked its feathers. "Here, have a piece of my toast."

The owl hooted gratefully and moved to an open part of the table where it laid down and nibbled the toast.

"What's in the wrapper, Hermione?" asked Ron.

Hermione carefully removed the wrapping paper, while Harry wondered why girls always tried to avoid tearing the wrapping paper instead of just ripping it off like boys do. Inside was a copy of her book, _The Quest For Voldemort's Horcruxes_. The cover picture showed Harry, Ron and Hermione waving back at them.

"Oh, I didn't know it was going to be coming out already," said Hermione as she took a moment to inspect the cover. "What do you guys think?"

"Where did that picture come from?" asked Ron.

"Remember when Kingsley had that reporter take our picture the day after the memorial service? I had him give it to the people at Flourish and Blotts so they could use it for the book. Oh look, here's one of just me on the back cover. I wonder if I should have had one taken that was a little more glamorous? Maybe like how I dressed up for the Yule ball?"

"Yeah, you did look really good that night," admitted Ron.

"So, when are you guys going to read my book?"

"Not anytime soon," said Ron. "I don't read the bloody books the teachers here tell us to read. Besides, I was there for most of it. How about you two?"

"I already read the book while Hermione was writing it," admitted Ginny. "She let me read each chapter at night when she finished them. It was good to read the parts Harry left out when he told me the story."

"I'll probably read it eventually," offered Harry. "I'll need something to do next year while Ginny is still here at school."

"Blimey Harry, you are starting to sound like part of an old married couple."

"You're a good one to talk," interrupted Ginny. "You've been practically attached to Hermione ever since that day in Hogsmeade. Not to mention I heard about you two snogging at the Three Broomsticks that day."

"Not unlike the two of you at Madam Puddifoot's," countered Ron. "Terry Boot told me all about the snogging display you put on there."

Ron and Ginny went back and forth, fighting as brothers and sisters often do. Harry was concerned at first, then he saw Hermione sitting back and smiling at him. She gave Harry a wink before speaking.

"Do you ever think, Harry, that we ought to dump these two and just go off together?"

Harry caught on fast and joined in Hermione's little game.

"It sure would make life more peaceful," added Harry.

By now Ron and Ginny had stopped fighting and were listening in.

"Life would definitely be more peaceful," continued Hermione, "but a lot less interesting and even less exciting."

Harry raised his glass in order to make a toast. Hermione did likewise. "Here's to interesting and exciting. May our lives never be too peaceful."

Harry and Hermione broke out laughing, while Ginny punched Harry hard on the arm before joining in. Ron looked slightly resentful, until Hermione leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"You're going to have to learn, Ron, that you are never going to win a fight with Ginny, at least not as long as I am around to help her. And you will never have a chance of winning one with me."

Ron took on a look of mock exasperation.

"Harry, how did we ever get ourselves into this mess?"

Harry looked at Ginny and smiled.

"I seem to remember how it happened. Your brother George once told me it would take huge effort to stop Ginny if she wanted something, but that I wasn't putting up much of a fight. Best thing that ever happened to me since you and I met on the Hogwarts Express on the way to school that first time."

The approaching end of the summer meant that all the seventh-years had their N.E.W.T.s (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) coming up, as they were reminded in class every day. Since all the Dumbledore's Army members who fought at the battle of Hogwarts were automatically given passing scores in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Ron and Harry only had to worry about four subjects, Potions, Charms, Herbology and Transfigurations. Hermione not only had those four but also Advanced Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, so she was already in full fledged studying mode for the upcoming exams. As usual, Ron and Harry were not taking things quite as seriously as Hermione, but even they were studying from after evening meal until they went to bed every night.

Hermione was constantly worrying out loud that she might fail some of her N.E. and thus ruin her chances for a good career. Ron was always quick to mention that she would probably get straight Outstanding results and that Kingsley had already offered her a career, though he was careful not to let Hermione hear him.

Harry wanted to do well, but wasn't overly concerned. Minister of Magic Kingsley Schacklebolt had basically offered Ron and Harry jobs as Aurors, which is the career Harry wanted. As long as they didn't do too poorly on their N.E.W.T.s, he thought Kingsley would still give them the Auror jobs. However, his pride would not let him be satisfied with just squeaking by. He wanted to score nearly as well as Hermione, though he knew it was a hopeless task trying to equal her.

There was still one other event coming up this weekend, the final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. Though Ravenclaw had already clinched first place in the standings, the loser of this match would finish last, and no one wanted to be the last place team. The rivalry heated up when Ginny had a confrontation in the hall with Zacharias Smith, which ended with Ginny proclaiming the Gryffindors would never lose to a team captained by a coward like Smith and that she was going to make sure the Gryffindors won by over 200 points. Things started to get ugly and the practical jokes started breaking out between the two houses. Once again, the big winners were Harry and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, as new practical joking supplies seemed to arrive with the mail owls every morning, always in various forms of camouflage which allowed them to get past the ever watchful Mr. Filch.

The morning of the big match, Seamus came up to the team with some breaking news.

"Hey, guess what I just heard about who is announcing the match. It's not going to be Terry Boot, the Ravenclaw captain, after all. Word is that he wants to stay with his team so they can officially receive the Cup as soon as our match is over. So guess who they got to do the announcing instead? Luna!"

"Luna! Makes me almost wish I was just watching the match instead of playing in it," joked Ron. "Luna is always good value."

Harry agreed that the announcing should be interesting, enough so that he was going to have to make sure he kept his attention on finding the Snitch instead paying attention to what Luna was saying over the loudspeakers.

When breakfast was over the team went to the locker room in order to change into their Quidditch robes. It was time for the part of being team captain that Harry usually liked the least, the pre-match pep talk. But for once, Harry knew exactly what he wanted to say.

"Some people say the match today is not important, that it is merely a consolation game. Ravenclaw has already won the Cup, so all that will depend on today's result is whether we finish second or third in the final standings. And you know what? I don't care if we finish second or third! In our last match, you played some of the best Quidditch I've seen in my seven years here at Hogwarts. I want to see you play even better today. I want you to outscore Hufflepuff so badly that you'll win easily even if your Seeker fails. You do that, and I promise you I will not let you down. So, let's go show everyone how Quidditch is supposed to be played!"

The Gryffindor team charged onto the pitch to a roar from the Gryffindor fans. Ron was the last one out, and he stopped to drape on arm over Harry's shoulder while a huge smile covered his face.

"Mate, I thought you said you couldn't give a pre-match speech. I think you inspired Ginny so much she might just score 20 goals today, and Jimmy Peakes looks like he plans to hit those bludgers so hard that he'll knock Zacharias Smith right out of the stadium. You're going to become a team leader whether you like it or not."

Both teams came to midfield and the captains shook hands. Smith tried to squeeze Harry's hand as hard as possible. Harry ignored it, but he could almost see the wisps of steam coming out of Ginny's ears. Harry merely wished Smith good luck and privately hoped the match didn't get ugly. Lee Jordan's voice sounded throughout the stadium.

"The players are mounting their brooms and the match will soon be underway. This is a match between two teams who both seemed to outplay the Ravenclaw squad in their previous matches, but both lost out by timely catches of the Snitch by Su Li, the up and coming Ravenclaw Seeker. Joining me for today's commentary is another member of the Ravenclaw house, Luna Lovegood. How do you see today's match, Luna?"

"When these two teams played last year, I seem to recall that Hufflepuff won by quite a large margin. Of course, the Hufflepuff cause was helped out when a replacement Gryffindor Keeper knocked out captain Harry Potter with a Bludger. Harry gets along with the current Keeper much better, so that shouldn't be a problem this year."

Ron was already laughing back at the goals.

"Don't upset me Potter, or I'll smack you with a Bludger myself!"

Harry started laughing in spite of himself. He could sense that today was going to be fun.

"Madam Hooch blows the whistle and the Quaffle is in the air," said Lee. "Hufflepuff grabs it first."

"I remember that big Hufflepuff player from last year," added Luna. "His name is Jackson, or Junebug, or something like that …"

"Actually it's Cadwallader, and he passes to Applebee, who slides past Robins and heads for the goal. He winds up for the shot, and … Oh my goodness! What a shot he took from that Bludger off Peakes' bat."

"That looked to be extremely painful," added Luna. "I understand boys don't like to be hit in that area."

The match continued with no early scoring except for a goal by Demelza Robins to put Gryffindor ahead 10-0. Luna continued with her dreamy but entertaining commentary while Lee tried to keep the broadcast on track. Harry could not help but agree with Ron's earlier comment. This would be even more fun if he were sitting in the stands. Instead, he resumed searching for the Snitch. The action was starting to pick up on the other end.

"Dean Thomas moves in position to shoot, but he is hit by a Bludger from Anthony Rickett. The Quaffle comes loose and it looks like Ginny Weasley and Zacharias Smith are both determined to reach it first."

Ginny saw the Quaffle and was charging in from the left to grab it. At the same time, Zacharias was veering towards the Quaffle from the right on a collision course with Ginny. It looked like both players were going to arrive at the Quaffle at the same time. Harry noticed that both kept flying straight for the Quaffle, each counting on the other player to turn away first. Then he heard Ron yelling behind him.

"It looks like a bloody game of chicken!"

Zacharias looked at Ginny to see if she was ready to pull aside. Instead he saw her still coming straight at him with a huge, vicious grin on her face. At the last second, Zacharias turned away, allowing Ginny to grab the Quaffle. She made a sharp left turn, darted past a surprised Hufflepuff Beater and put the Quaffle through the center goal.

"20-0 Gryffindor! How about that move by Ginny Weasley!"

Luna answered in a dreamy voice.

"Oh, I like Ginny quite a bit. But I don't think she cares much for that Zacharias Smith boy."

Indeed, Ginny swooped around after her goal and flew straight past Smith.

"You are going to have to summon a lot more courage than that if you want to beat us!" she shouted at him.

"Yes," continued Luna. "I don't think she likes him at all."

As the match continued, Ginny, Dean and Demelza took turns shooting at the Hufflepuff goal, and the Gryffindor goals began to add up. It was also apparent the Gryffindor team was not going to let Smith score against them. Jimmy Peakes seemed to be making it his mission to make Smith's life as difficult as possible, leaving Euan Abercromby the duty of looking out for Harry, Ginny and the rest of the team. Smith was never able to hold on to the Quaffle for more than a few seconds before a Gryffindor defender would find a way to knock it out of his hands. This left Cadwallader and Applebee relatively open, and they each scored a goal past Ron, but by then the score had risen to 110-20 in the Gryffindor's favor.

"Applebee has the Quaffle for Hufflepuff, and throws it to Smith. Smith maneuvers around Thomas, turns sharp left to avoid Weasley and … Oww! A Bludger from Peakes knocks the Quaffle out of his hands. Gryffindor is just not letting Smith do anything today."

"Actually, Smith had this same problem last year," add Luna in a serene voice. "He obviously has another case of "Loser's Lurgy'. Oh, look! Smith is trying to take that bat from a Gryffindor Beater."

Harry looked and he saw Smith was indeed trying to take the bat out of Jimmy Peake's hands. While they were struggling over the bat, Demelza flew past and scored again to make the lead 120-20.

Meanwhile, Harry was staying close to Summersby, the Hufflepuff Seeker. Harry wasn't concerned with catching the little golden winged Snitch himself, as he could tell his team would soon be ahead by more than a large enough margin to make the capture of the Snitch irrelevant. Instead, Harry wanted to make sure Summersby could not catch the Snitch, thus pulling out the win the way Ravenclaw did against them their last match. The Snitch had briefly appeared a few times in this match, but never in the vicinity of the two Seekers, and by the time they flew towards it, the Snitch had disappeared.

Ginny seemed to realize they had reached the critical part of the match. She took over on offense, with Euan flying protection beside her, keeping the Bludgers away while Ginny flew circles around the defenders. She took six straight shots and scored six straight goals to make the score 180-20, enough of a lead to avoid a disastrous catch of the Snitch by Summersby. Luna missed the critical moment on the commentary.

"A lovely cloud just passed over the Gryffindor goal. It looks just like a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. I'm not sure for which team that is a good omen."

Harry continued his search for the Snitch, but couldn't help sneaking peeks to watch his team. Now that they weren't worried about winning or losing, they played even better. They started to ease up on poor Zacharias Smith, and just concentrated on playing the best Quidditch possible. Harry almost hoped he would not see the Snitch, so his team could keep displaying their skills for all to see.

But Harry had also made the team a promise. If they did their part, he promised not to let him down. Harry quit shadowing Summersby and started more actively searching for the Snitch. He thought he heard Lee Jordan mention a score of 260-30 and he also heard Luna say something about a Blibbering Humdinger, but he decided he didn't need to know exactly what she was exactly referring to. Despite his attentiveness, Summersby still spotted the Snitch first, hovering behind the Hufflepuff center goal.

Summersby had the lead, so Harry decided to gamble and he angled off to the right, so if the Snitch went that way Harry would then be the closer of the two Seekers. But Harry guessed wrong, and the Snitch moved to the left instead, then headed for the other side of the field. Summersby overshot the Snitch and turned around hard to continue the pursuit. Harry took a wide turn back towards the middle of the field, still trailing behind Summersby.

Finally, Harry got the break he needed. The Snitch turned right in front of Ron, while Summersby was delayed by a well hit Bludger from Euan. With Ron yelling directions at him, Harry now had the lead in the pursuit of the Snitch, which suddenly turned downward and headed straight for the field. Harry followed, desperately trying to get to the fluttering ball before he ended up crashing into the ground. The crowd had noticed what was happening, as had Lee Jordan, who interrupted a story from Luna about how Quidditch players should ride thestrals instead of broomsticks.

"Potter is in close pursuit as the Snitch continues to dive for the ground. The Snitch makes a sharp turn parallel to the ground and Potter leaps off his broom! Oh, that looks ugly, as Potter hits the ground and rolls two, three, four times before coming to rest on the field. He doesn't appear to be moving!"

Harry lay on the ground, wondering which bones he had broken this time. Harry had a tendency to end up with Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing after Quidditch matches, and he imagined it would be no different this time. His eyes were closed and he was mostly unaware of what was happening around him. Harry started trying to figure out which parts of his body hurt. He checked his arms, legs, neck and everywhere else he could think of. He decided that everywhere hurt, but they might all still work. He slowly opened his eyes, and about a foot away he saw Ginny's face.

"Harry! Harry! Speak to me!"

Harry checked his right arm. He seemed to be able to move it. He raised it up and opened his hand. Inside it was the Snitch.

"I told you I wouldn't let the team down."

A huge cheer went up from the Gryffindors. Lee Jordan announced that the final score was 410-30. Harry sat up, grinning, though he still hurt all over. His teammates all came up, one by one, to congratulate him, though he gasped from pain when Ron slapped him on the back in his own way of complimenting Harry on his catch. Finally Ginny was up, but she was not wearing the same smile as the rest of the team.

"You absolute blithering idiot! You incredible dunce! How dare you put a scare into me like that! I ought to knock you right back on the ground! Don't you know how much I worried about you all last year? You're not supposed to do that to me anymore. We were already way ahead on the score. We didn't need you to catch the Snitch. DON'T YOU EVER DO SOMETHING STUPID LIKE THAT TO ME AGAIN!"

Harry realized suddenly that Ginny reminded him very much of her mother. He also knew that the smart thing to do would be to look repentant and keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't help smile at the amount of worry Ginny felt for him. When he saw she was getting mad at the smile on his face, he thought he'd better apologize quickly.

"I won't let it happen again. After all, my Quidditch career is now over. The team is your problem now."

Ginny relented a little, pulled Harry to his feet and even gave him a kiss.

"You're hopeless, you know that?"

Ron yelled out "Party in the Gryffindor common room!" and everyone started heading for the castle. Hermione walked up to Harry and shook her head in a reproachful manner.

"It's a good thing Draco Malfoy isn't here this summer. You know what he would say right now, don't you Harry?"

"No, what?"

"Always have to be the hero, don't you Potter?"

"What did you say in that book of yours, Hermione? Does it say that I always have a need to be the hero?"

"Not exactly. It says that you never wanted to be a leader, or in the limelight. But you were forced into it by circumstances you had no control over, dating back to when Voldemort killed your parents and marked you as 'the Chosen One'."

"Hmmm. I think I will have to read that book someday."

Harry was still sore all over so Ginny had to help him walk back to the castle. They arrived long after everyone else was already inside, which gave them the privacy for their own brief but private celebration before joining the others. They were interrupted when Peeves flew by singing, "Potter and Weasley, standing by a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

As they entered the castle and headed towards the Gryffindor common room, they found Luna walking alone in the halls.

"Why don't we invite Luna up for the party?" asked Ginny.

"Sounds like a good idea to me. Are we allowed to have someone from another house in the common room?"

"I don't know, but do you think if Harry Potter invites her, anyone will object?"

Harry could think of a few people who might object, but since he was leaving in a couple of weeks, he decided not to worry much about it.

"Luna, you want to come to the party with us?"

"Oh, I don't know if that would be appropriate, a Ravenclaw at a Gryffindor party."

"How could it not be appropriate to have one of our best friends at our party? Besides, aren't we supposed to be coming together as a school and not be so divided by our individual houses?"

Luna brightened when Harry referred to her as one of his best friends and agreed to come along. When they entered the common room a cheer arose as the last two members of the team entered. They also heard a yell from Ron.

"Luna! You did a brilliant job announcing today, just brilliant!"

"Did you really think so?"

"Absolutely. I always tell Harry and was just telling Hermione that you should be announcing during all of the matches."

"That would certainly be fun. I guess I'd have to learn a little more about Quidditch and the teams, then."

"No," chuckled Ron, "I think that would just ruin it."

While Luna seemed confused by Ron's last comment, Ron turned to Harry.

"Not much good party food here Harry. What do you say the two of us sneak down into the kitchens and see if the house elves will help us out?"

Harry had a sudden thought.

"Let's try something else first. Kreacher!"

There was a loud crack and then a short little house-elf wearing a locket around his neck appeared beside Harry.

"Master Harry, Kreacher has not heard from you in awhile."

"Err, sorry about that, Kreacher. I hope I didn't bother you right now."

"Kreacher is always happy to serve Master Harry, he who defeated Master Regulus' great enemy."

"Um, yeah. Could you do us a favor?"

"Whatever Master Harry wishes."

"Could you go to the kitchen and bring back some food and drinks for our party? We're running pretty low."

"Certainly Master Harry. I will be right back."

With a loud crack Kreacher disapparated from the room. Ron slapped Harry on the back in approval, while Hermione gave Harry a stern look showing she was not so happy with his actions.

Sean McLaggen entered the common room, and he didn't seem to be as happy as the rest of the Gryffindors. First he was grumping at the lack of food and drink, then he spotted Luna talking with Neville.

"What's that Ravenclaw doing in here?"

Harry was still very sore from his fall ending the match, so he was sitting in front of the fire. Without getting up, he yelled back at McLaggen.

"She's my guest. What's it to you?"

"You call this a party? We have a Ravenclaw running around, and the food and drinks stink."

Just then there was a series of loud cracking sounds. Kreacher, Winky and several other house elves suddenly appeared, each with a platter filled with food and drinks. Harry grinned up at McLaggen.

"You were saying something about the party food?"

Sean's face turned bright red and he stormed back out of the room. Fortunately, Winky was agile enough to quickly get out of his way or else her entire tray of tarts would have crashed to the floor.

"That went pretty well," said Ginny. The entire Quidditch team broke out in laughter, as well as most of the rest of the Gryffindors. Luna looked less happy.

"I didn't want to cause any trouble."

Ron put his arm around Luna.

"We'd love to get you in a trade for him. Our friends are always more important to us than what house you belong to."

Luna beamed at this newest profession of friendship and went back to enjoying the party. Meanwhile, Kreacher approached Harry.

"Is the food and drink sufficient, Master Harry?"

"It's great, Kreacher. Thanks a lot, and thank all the other house-elves for me."

"It is our pleasure, Master Harry."

Hermione came up to join the conversation with Kreacher.

"Have you made a decision about Harry's offer of freedom that he made to you a few months ago."

"Oh, yes, friend of Master Harry. Headmistress McGonagall came to visit all the Hogwarts' house-elves last week. She offered to set us all free and to let us work for paying here at Hogwarts for as long as we want. Some house-elves were insulted and refused to listen to anything else from the headmistress. But some of us were interested and negotiated with her. She offered the same ten Galleons a week that Headmaster Dumbledore offered Dobby, but like Dobby we beat her down. She finally agreed to give us two Galleons a week. We wanted to work for one Galleon a week, but the headmistress is tougher than Headmaster Dumbledore was."

"So," asked an excited Hermione, "are all the house-elves going to be freed?"

"Oh, no, miss. There will just be ten free elves. The rest all want to stay belonging to Hogwarts."

"Oh, just ten," sighed Hermione. "We only got nine others to agree to freedom."

"No, you got ten others, miss. Kreacher does not count because I am happy to serve Master Harry."

Hermione turned her attention away from the house-elf.

"Harry! Do something about this."

Harry sighed and turned to talk to Kreacher.

"Kreacher, what if I promised you I would always take you back if you changed your mind? You could work here, but you would also be free when you wanted to come see me or to visit Regulus' old house at Grimmauld Place in London. If you ever decided you did not like being a free elf, I would always let you come back to me. Would that make a difference in your decision?"

"So, Master Harry is not trying to free Kreacher just to get rid of Kreacher?"

"Kreacher, I would be happy to always have you around," said Harry as he sneaked a quick glance at Ginny, who nodded her head imperceptibly. "It is just that I only want you around if it is your choice, not because you are forced to."

Kreacher paused for a bit, then looked up with what Harry imagined was a playful look on his face.

"In that case, Kreacher agrees to accept clothes from Master Harry, sir." Then the smile grew bigger on Kreacher's face. "That means Master Harry will not be able to order Kreacher away, right, sir?"

Harry wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.

"You would be free to ignore any of my requests that you wished, Kreacher."

"Why don't you free him right now, Harry?" asked Hermione who was brimming with excitement at the thought of another step being taken forward in the name of house-elf rights.

Harry took off a sock, which was somewhat dirty and smelly as a result of the match earlier in the day and presented it to Kreacher. Kreacher took it and immediately put it on his head, then turned to leave.

"Kreacher, where are you going?"

"I have to see Headmistress McGonagall quick and tell her I am a free elf and would like to work for paying."

Kreacher disapparated, leaving behind a happy Hermione now that Kreacher was a free elf.

"You did the right thing, Harry."

"I hope so. I have to admit, I've never seen creatures before who found my dirty socks to be so interesting."

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	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Our WiFi was fixed so expect regular updates!**

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CHAPTER TEN

N.E.W.T.s

With the Quidditch season over, that left the seventh-years with only one major event left,their Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (N.E.W.T.s). It began on Sunday night when the testers arrived at Hogwarts. Harry recognized Professors Marchbank and Tofty, as they had administered most of the Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) tests at the end of Harry's fifth year. Their arrival was also noticed by all the other fifth and seventh year students. As a result, their studying became more desperate and frantic. The library and the common rooms became tense places, as sixth-year Hufflepuff Arnold Whitby discovered. He set off a Decoy Detonator in the Hufflepuff common room Sunday night, and was found hours later tied to a staircase down the hall. One of the teachers had to be called in to free him since a particularly effective sticking charm had been used to keep his feet glued to the floor.

The first examinations on Monday were for Charms students. During breakfast, while the rest of the students ate without a care in the world (as their end of term exams were still a week away), the fifth and seventh-year students were either doing some last minute reading out of their notes or chanting charms under their breath as various items moved around the dining tables. Every time it appeared that Hermione was finally about to eat a bite of her breakfast, she would drop her fork on her plate and reach into her book bag to check out another thought which had suddenly struck her.

After breakfast, all of the fifth and seventh-years congregated outside the entrance to the Great Hall. At half past nine they were called back in to sit at individual desks for the written part of their examinations. After everyone was settled in, Professor Flitwick instructed them to turn over their papers and begin.

Harry read the first question, which was about the _Protego Totalum_ and _Repello Muggletum_ charms, ones they had used to hide their camp every night the previous year. Harry looked up and saw Ron grinning at him, while Hermione's quill was already flying over her paper.

After Harry completed his test, he looked at the clock and saw that he had finished ten minutes early. He then noticed that Ron had also finished and was napping at his desk. Hermione was still furiously writing away, and she even added a little more after Professor Flitwick told everyone to put their quills down ten minutes later.

As usual, Hermione spent the time immediately after the test discussing each and every question with Ron and Harry, who both did their best to ignore her. Ginny joined them at lunch, giving Hermione someone new with whom to discuss all of her answers.

After lunch, the fifth and seventh-years were ushered into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, from which they were called in two at a time for the practical exam. Harry had nothing to do while he was waiting, and found himself wondering why they always called the students in alphabetically. Hannah Abbott would be done and could take a two hour nap before Ron (who was always about last) was able to finish.

Harry was called in at the same time as Parvati Patil, who was sent to Professor Tofty while Harry was to be tested by Professor Marchbanks.

"Harry, it is so good to see you again. Well, do you see that glass of water over there?" he said as he pointed to a glass a table over. Professor Marchbanks pointed his wand at it and it tipped over, spilling water all over the table. "Show me how to clean up the water."

Harry performed a _Drought_ charm which dried up the puddle of water. When Marchbanks asked Harry to bring the glass to him, Harry performed an _Accio_ charm and it flew into Harry's hands. Next Harry was required to use a _Locomotor_ charm to make the glass move through the air. Then he heard Parvati yell from the next table over.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Professor Tofty!"

In her nervousness, instead of the _Locomotor_ charm Parvati had used the _Locomotor Mortis_ curse, also known as the _Leg-Locker_ curse. Tofty was laying on the ground, unable to move, and Professor Marchbanks had to rush over to reverse the curse, though he had the start of a smile at the corners of his mouth. Harry imagined that a good sense of humor was necessary to survive as an examiner.

After a few more demonstrations, Harry was free to leave, confident he had done better on the practical portion than he had on the written part. He took off for the common room to prepare for Tuesday' Transfigurations testing.

The Transfigurations tests the next day also went well. Harry was able to transform his rock into a pig, though Ron admitted that his swine was covered with pebbles all over its back side. At least they weren't in the room when Marietta Edgecombe turned her rock into a small herd of wild boars which ran loose in the Great Hall, overturning tables and scaring students. Hagrid was brought in to round them up. He was heard muttering something about an upcoming hog roast while he worked. Harry wasn't sure if that would be a violation of one of the five exemptions to Gawp's Law of Elemental Transfiguation or not.

Wednesday was Herbology, one of Harry's weaker subjects. He and Ron persuaded Neville to help them study the night before. Neville was so complimented that someone was actually asking him for help that he spent several hours reviewing the Herbology materials with them. It soon became apparent that Neville was very good at explaining material he knew to others so that they would be able to understand it.

"Neville, you really ought to be a teacher," concluded Ron as they put away the books and got ready for bed.

"Professor Sprout has been letting me do a little bit of teaching with the first years. The fact that I killed Voldemort's snake this spring seems to get me a chance to have their attention at the start, but I've also been doing fairly well at keeping their interest. Professor Sprout says I have the potential to earn a job as a teacher here."

"I guess we'll find out tomorrow how good of a tutor you are," added Ron. "But you helped us out a lot tonight."

Wednesday morning's Herbology written test seemed to go well for Harry. He thought he did particularly well on the question of when it was better to use Mooncalf Dung as opposed to using Dragon Dung as a fertilizer. The afternoon practical exam included harvesting Bubotuber pus as well as transplanting Mandrakes. Ron mentioned that he lost his grip on a Mandrake and he had to chase it throughout the greenhouse before he could complete the transplanting process, but both of them were pretty happy as they finished their tests.

"You know what the best part is?" Ron asked Harry. "We have four days off until our Potions tests next Monday. We get out of tomorrow's Defense Against the Dark Arts tests, and Hermione has her Ancient Runes tests on Friday so she won't be around to make us feel guilty while we spend the day goofing off."

A little goofing off was something Harry hadn't had a chance to do for a long time. Ginny had a load of homework to do that night, while Hermione was deep into her Ancient Runes books, so Harry spent an enjoyable evening getting beat by Ron in several games of wizard's chess. While Hermione was studying again on Thursday and everyone else was in classes, Ron and Harry decided they were overdue to visit Hagrid.

As they walked through the halls they came across Professor Trelawny anxiously pacing back and forth.

"Potter, Weasley, why aren't you in the Great Hall taking your Divinity N.E.W.T.s.?"

"We're not in Divinity this summer," answered Ron, who was working hard to keep from laughing out loud.

"Yes, yes, I knew that. Oh, I hope my students are doing well. With a new headmaster in charge it would reflect poorly on me if my students would do poorly. By the way, be careful of a giant surprise you two have coming your way."

Before Harry could reply, Professor Trelawny was off to start pacing in another hallway.

"I sure am glad we don't have class with that bloody basket case this summer," said Ron. "What do you suppose she meant by a giant surprise?"

Harry chuckled.

"Who knows, I'm just glad she wasn't predicting my imminent death. I found that to be quite the pleasant change."

Harry and Ron continued outside and towards Hagrid's hut. Harry pointed out that there seemed to be a lot of smoke coming for Hagrid's place.

"I hope he's not burning the place down."

"Whatever he's doing," added Ron as he sniffed at the air, "it sure does smell good."

As they approached closer to the hut, they could tell the smoke was coming from behind Hagrid's home instead of from the hut itself. Ron and Harry decided to check out the back before knocking on the front door. Out back they found Hagrid tending to three wild boars roasting on separate spits.

"All right, yeh two. Come down ter visit meh? Ron, where's Hermione? I hardly ever see the two of yeh separated anymore."

"Hermione has a N.E.W.T. tomorrow she's studying for. We had a couple of days off from our tests and thought we'd get away from Hermione and the others who are hitting the books right now."

"Why don't yeh lot stay fer lunch? This crew is almost done cookin'."

Harry looked at the three large boars roasting over the flames and wondered who else was coming to visit for lunch.

"We don't want to get in the way, Hagrid. Looks like you must have a large gathering planned."

"Nah, just the three of us, and me half-brother Grawpy, of course. He should be comin' any minute, now. While we're waiting, I'll get yeh lot some plates and utensils."

"That must be what Trelawny was referring to," said Ron. "Grawp must be our 'giant surprise'. Wonder how the old fraud knew that Grawp was coming to lunch. Hagrid, did you tell Professor Trelawny that Grawp was coming?"

"Don't think I told no one. I didn't even know the two of yeh were comin'."

"Ron, Trelawny didn't even know the two of us were coming out here. It is not exactly a normal Thursday morning stop for us. Do you think she actually got a prediction right this time?"

"I guess it had to happen sooner or later."

At that time Harry and Ron noticed birds scattering out of the forest. Soon some of the trees at the edge of the forest were shaking, immediately followed by the 16-foot tall Grawp lumbering out of the forest towards Hagrid's place. Grawp came all the way up to the roasting boars, then looked at Ron and Harry.

"Where Hagger? HAGGER!"

Hagrid came out the back door of his hut.

"Here I am, Grawpy. You remember Ron and Harry, don't yeh?"

Grawp looked at Ron, then stared at Harry.

"Harry. Where Hermy?"

Harry pointed back towards the castle.

"Hermione is in the school. She is studying."

Grawp looked at the castle and smiled. He remembered the students there throwing food out the window to him after the big battle a few months ago.

"Grawp like school. Grawp like Hermy."

"Blimey, Harry, the big lug still has a crush on Hermione."

"Seems like all the big, quiet types fall for Hermione," kidded Harry. "There is Grawp, Krum and that red-headed guy she's seeing now."

"Ha, ha. Very funny."

Hagrid started passing out plates to Ron and Harry.

"Well, come on yeh all, let's be eatin'."

Hagrid, Ron and Harry cut slices from one of the boars. Meanwhile, Grawp grabbed an entire carecass and starting ripping large hunks from it. By the time Grawp was on his second boar, several discarded bones had hit Ron and Harry and splattered debris on their plates. With their appetites somewhat lessened, they excused themselves with a promise to return Saturday and decided to tour the rest of the grounds.

First they walked by a Herbology class composed of second-year students. Sure enough, there was Neville, leading the class with Professor Sprout standing nearby, ready to lend a helping hand if one was needed. They watched for ten minutes, and Neville worked the class without a hitch, until he saw that Harry and Ron were watching, at which point he became nervous and started to stutter a bit. They decided it was time to move on.

Further along they found Mr. Weasley was taking advantage of the good weather by bringing his class of third-year Muggle Studies students out to be introduced to his car. Harry wondered how Mr. Weasley would describe a car to the kids. Would he comment on its top speed, how fast it accelerated, how expensive it was, how roomy and comfortable the interior was, or any of the other things that would have been important to Uncle Vernon or other Muggles he knew growing up? Harry suggested to Ron that they sneak a little closer so he could hear the class.

Mr. Weasley had the driver-side door open as he talked to the class.

"Now this is a part of the vehicle I find greatly fascinating. Everyone watch what happens when I turn this crank. Look! The window is going down. If you turn the crank the other way, the window goes back up. Ingenious! It always amazes me the things Muggles can do without magic. Now, everyone in a line and you will all get your turn to move the window up and down."

The students rushed to get in line and try their hand at the window crank. Harry signaled to Ron to move away. When they were out of sight, Harry burst out laughing.

"Wait until he shows them the windshield wipers. They'll be fascinated for a week!"

"What are windshield wipers?"

"They manually wipe water off the car windshield when it is raining outside. It works kind of like when Hermione uses the Impervius Charm to repel the water from my glasses when I play Quidditch."

"Strange. Do you think we ought to be heading back in?"

"Yeah, it is probably time to hit the books for a couple of hours if we want to avoid incurring the wrath of Hermione."

Harry and Ron put in a few hours of studying that night for their Monday Potions test. Harry wanted to do very well on this test. He had lost the Half-Blood Prince's book with all its useful notes in the Fiendfyre which swept through the Room of Requirement during the Battle of Hogwarts. Without it, Harry's work in Potions class had become downright ordinary. At first, Professor Slughorn was willing to attribute this to the trauma caused by the battle, but he was starting to worry out loud that Harry had permanently lost his 'gift' for Potions. Harry wanted to score well on his tests, if only to please Professor Slughorn.

Friday morning Hermione went to her Ancient Runes written test while Harry and Ron took one last chance to goof off in the common room with a few games of wizard's chess. Harry thought he was finally going to beat Ron, only to find out Ron had set yet another trap for him. As usual, Harry's pieces paid the price for his blunder.

At lunch they met up with Ginny and Hermione. Hermione kept repeating questions from her Ancient Runes test and asking them if they thought she gave the correct answer. Ron had told Harry on the way to meet the girls that the secret was to show that you were listening and pretend that you understood what she was talking about. Then, you had to shove food in your mouth at just the right time so that you had a good excuse not to answer.

"When it asked what the symbol for the number nine was, I put down that it was Acromantula, then I switched my answer to the Hydra. I think the Hydra has nine heads, doesn't it?"

Ron was just pulling his fork out of his mouth, which was full of sausages. He mumbled a little and gave a shrug of his shoulders. Hermione turned to look at Harry.

"Well, does nine heads sound right for a Hydra, Harry?"

"Err … isn't the hydra that thing that grows two new heads whenever you cut one off? If so, how would anyone know how many heads it had at any one time?"

Hermione grunted in disgust and pulled out her Ancient Runes book. Ron gave Harry a big thumbs-up when Hermione's back was turned.

After lunch, Hermione went to her Ancient Runes practical test. Ginny had the afternoon free, so she and Harry used the time to figure out the Quidditch team for next Friday's scrimmage against the Slytherins. Harry was technically still in charge as team captain, but since he was sure Ginny was going to be captain next year, he wanted her to have a little practice running the team.

"This is supposed to be a practice game for next year's Quidditch team, so you need to replace Dean, Ron and me. Let's start with Ron's spot. Who do you want to be the Keeper?"

"Well, Sean McLaggen was the next best Keeper at the tryouts, and Emma Dobbs was the only other one close. I guess I have to give the spot to McLaggen, since he was the best at the tryouts."

"That would be the way to go that is easiest to defend," said Harry. "McLaggen may well be the Keeper you want, but you have to make your decision based on what is best for the team. For instance, look at Ron. He may not have been named Keeper based solely on the results of his tryout, but Angelina thought she saw talent in him and thought he would be better for the team in the long run."

"I didn't like the way McLaggen was blaming those Slytherin Chasers for his tryout results, and I really didn't like the way he seemed upset when we beat the Hufflepuffs. He just reminds me so much of his brother Cormac, and I remember what a disaster it was the one game he played."

"I don't remember it so well," said Harry. "My brain got a little scrambled when McLaggen hit me with that Bludger."

"Do you think Emma is ready, though?"

"I think if you make Emma the Keeper, she will have a rough scrimmage. She will have had no practice and will be very nervous. If she learns from the experience, I think she could be a very good Keeper next year. If she loses her confidence like Ron tended to do, it could be disastrous."

"I believe that I'd better have a talk with Emma before I make up my mind on that one."

"Then comes my position, the Seeker."

"No one even tried out for Seeker this year. Everyone knew they weren't going to be able to beat you out for the job, Harry. I didn't even see anyone at the tryouts who flew well enough to be a Seeker."

"I saw one such person," hinted Harry.

"I know, but I don't want to play Seeker. I'm a good Chaser. You heard during the match when they said I was good enough to play for the Holyhead Harpies. I know it was just Lee Jordan saying that, but I'd like to try to be a Quidditch player after I get out of school. I'm going to need all the practice at Chaser I can get."

Harry had to think for a moment. Part of him wanted to selfishly look out for whatever was best for Ginny. Another part of him was more concerned with the overall Gryffindor Quidditch team than with any one individual. In the end, he knew which way he had to go.

"This is just like the Keeper decision. As captain, you have to be concerned with the entire team, not just one player. I don't think you could live with a decision to help yourself at the possible expense of the team. Besides, thanks to Lee's broadcasts, the Quidditch teams ought to have heard of your name by now."

"Okay, okay. You convinced me. I'll play Seeker now, but I'll try to find a new one next fall. That means I have to find two new Chasers to replace Dean and me. Dennis Creevy and Natalie McDonald were by far the best of the others at the tryouts, but neither one was that impressive. I'd hate to commit to either one being on the team next year."

"Just make sure you tell both of them that there will be full tryouts in the fall and that you don't know for sure what position you are going to play next year. Think of the scrimmage as a good extended tryout."

Ginny sighed.

"I guess that will be the team, once I decide between Emma and Sean at Keeper. On paper, it sure doesn't look as good as our team this summer."

"I can't imagine a team as good as the one we had this summer. But don't sell yourself short. By the time the first match comes along next fall, your team just might be that good, if not better."

It took Hermione several hours to settle down after her Ancient Runes test, but then she, Ron and Harry got to work spending the weekend preparing for their next test, Monday's Potions N.E.W.T. That was going to be Ron and Harry's last test, though Hermione still had Advanced Arithmancy coming up on Thursday. Ron spent most of Saturday complaining about being inside studying on a beautiful weather day, but with Harry and Hermione both determined to do well on this test, he had little choice but to join in the preparations.

By Sunday night Harry was convinced he had studied every Potion known in the Wizarding world. Ron had long since grown tired of looking at his books and instead suggested breaking out the cauldrons and brewing something up. He first considered doing a Forgetfulness Potion, but was afraid if he breathed in too many of the fumes he might not remember all he had studied over the weekend. He next proposed a Draught of Living Death, until Harry pointed out that if something went wrong they might sleep through the test.

"Why don't you make a Wit-Sharpening Potion?" pleaded an exasperated Hermione. "That surely couldn't hurt you with the test."

"Great idea!" yelled Ron and he took off out of the common room in search of a cauldron and the necessary ingredients.

"He'll be back shortly," said Hermione as she shook her head. "He forgot to take the book that lists all the ingredients he needs."

Sure enough, Ron soon came back without his cauldron or any ingredients. However, he also said that Professor Slughorn had opened up the Potions classroom for anyone who wanted some last minute practice, so Ron, Harry and Hermione decided to give it a try.

Neville was already in the room intently working on some sort of concoction. Ernie Macmillan was also stirring a bubbling cauldron, though the smell coming from his cauldron did not seem like that of any proper potion that they were aware of.

Ron went to the cupboard and got all the necessary supplies for Harry and himself to make a Wit-Sharpening Potion. Hermione decided to try her hand at a Shrinking Potion. While Ron was still sorting out the ingredients and Hermione was already chopping her daisy roots, a sudden yell came from Ernie. He had burned through the bottom of his cauldron and a slimy potion was leaking all over the floor.

"Ugh, that shouldn't have happened," griped Ernie. "I was doing everything right."

"You weren't using one of those cheap foreign cauldrons, were you?" asked Ron. "You should always use standard size 2 pewter cauldrons."

Harry and Hermione looked at Ron in amazement.

"Hey," said Ron defensively. "When you have a brother who spent a summer living and breathing cauldron sizes, you are sure to remember some of it."

Ron and Harry carefully prepared all of their ingredients and began to make their potion. Meanwhile, Harry kept hearing Hermione muttering the instructions for her Shrinking Potion as she was working. He and Ron were only about halfway done when they saw Hermione was already turning a toad into a tadpole with her potion. When the boys completed their Wit-Sharpening Potion, it turned out a dull gray color instead of the expected shiny silver hue.

"Go ahead," prompted Ron. "Take a drink, Harry."

"I don't think so. I think I will go with an unsharpened wit for tomorrow's tests."

"That might be the best idea," gulped Ron as he stared at the slowly gurgling potion.

Monday morning after breakfast they returned to the Great Hall for the written Potions test. Ron flashed a smile at Harry when the first question asked what standard size should be used for pewter cauldrons. Harry's confidence grew as he was familiar with most of the questions. He knew that Mandrake Draught was the antidote for Petrification, and he remembered Everlasting Elixirs from Professor Slughorn's class last year. Harry also figured he knew most of the uses of moonstones in potions from the essay Snape once made him write. After talking with Ron and Hermione during lunch he was even more certain that he had done well, though not as well as Hermione.

After lunch they returned to the Great Hall to find a pewter cauldron (standard size 2) and ingredients waiting for each of them. Professor Marchbanks welcomed them and asked them to each brew up a Shrinking Potion. Hermione could barely contain her excitement at correctly guessing which potion to practice the night before. Harry decided to go slowly, trying to remember the instructions he heard Hermione mention the previous evening.

Harry was careful to evenly chop his daisy roots, to fully skin his shrivelfig and to evenly slice the caterpillar. He added one rat spleen and prepared to add a dash of leech juice. Harry knew that the final potion was supposed to be a bright acid green and that too much leech juice would turn it orange.

Hermione had already brought up a sample of her potion and was testing it on a toad in front of Professor Tofty. One of the Ravenclaws was doing the same in front of Professor Marchbanks, causing quite a commotion when his toad turned bright red before bursting into flames. Several other students were struggling with orangish looking potions.

Harry added a small dash of leech juice and began stirring his potion. It reached about the same color of green as Hermione's did last night, but not the hoped for bright acid green. He decided to try something from his old Half-Blood Prince potions book. After every seventh counterclockwise stir, Harry added one clockwise stir. As he did so, the potion became a brighter shade of green. Harry quickly bottled a sample to use on the toads. He approached Professor Tofty just as Ron was in front of Professor Marchbanks.

"Mr. Weasley, your potion looks to be acceptable," said Professor Marchbanks. "Why don't you give it a try on this toad?"

Ron fed some of his potion to his toad. For a minute it just sat there, then it slowly started to shrink. It did not turn into a tadpole, but it did look a lot younger and smaller than the original toad.

Professor Tofty then spoke to Harry.

"Mr. Potter, your potion looks very nice. Shall we give it a try?"

Harry fed his potion to a toad and it immediately began to shrink. It kept shrinking and changing until very young tadpole was all that remained. Harry was ecstatic. He had done it!

"Marvelous! Professor Slughorn told me last night that you seemed to have inherited some of Lily Evans' natural talent for Potions. I tested her myself years ago, and she was one of the best I've ever seen. Horace also told me he was afraid your talents seemed to have diminished since your time away from school and your trials with the Dark Lord, but this is excellent work, Potter."

"Thank you, sir."

With their Potions test over, Harry and Ron were done with their N.E.W.T.s. Hermione still had her Advanced Arithmancy N.E.W.T. on Thursday and Ginny still had several end of the term tests to go. That left Harry and Ron free for a few days. They also realized that they only had a few days left as students at Hogwarts so they tried to work in a bunch of their favorite activities.

They snuck into the kitchens one night to talk with the house-elves and nick some food. They used Harry's favorite secret passageway out of Hogwarts to get into Honeydukes so Harry could buy a huge supply of sweets to share with their fellow Gryffindors. Hermione and Ginny broke away from their studies long enough for one last tea with Hagrid. They even put together a couple of pickup Quidditch matches, including one where they talked Neville into being a Keeper and Luna into being a Beater. It was the least serious game Harry had seen or heard of, with peels of laughter constantly erupting from the players. Once, Luna was distracted and flew her broom right into the ground when Ron called out that he had spotted an Umgubular Slashkilter. Another time she hit the Bludger the wrong way and it almost knocked an unsuspecting Harry off his broom. Ernie Macmillan scored his only goal when he shot at Neville, who caught the Quaffle only to have the momentum from the shot drag Neville, his broom and the Quaffle through the center ring.

After Hermione and Ginny finished their last tests and Hermione spent an hour agonizing over every question on her Advanced Arithmancy test, the couples spent Thursday night and Friday on long walks around the grounds and quiet talks wherever a little privacy could be found. It was some of the best times Harry and Ginny had spent together since the week before summer classes started. Harry knew that in the future when he looked back on his time at Hogwarts, this week would bring back many happy memories.

* * *

**Bye! *waves***


End file.
